Yeah, I think most people that have 10 or more years experience with linux or unix or other forms think that it has gotten much easier to start out than when they did it, sure it was a struggle back then, but it's been ten years and I have an easy time with all of it now, so it must be easier now. It may be a bit easier than it was 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, but it's still very much not "accessible". Even most steam deck users have a hard time with the very simple, presentable, accessible version that comes on that.

It's easy to lose track of how hard something is when it hasn't been for you in a long time. But linux is unfortunately still very inaccessible for the vast majority of people. It is constantly moving in the right direction, and generally worth getting through the hard part to make it to the other side, but you need motivation to do so, as it will fight back for a long time. But, windows and mac have it almost as bad. Neither one is quite as hard to transition to as linux, but there is still a decent barrier to switch between them. Once linux is around that same level of barrier, that's when we can expect the numbers to come up notably.

Ubuntu has gone to shit, use Mint instead

Ubuntu isnt very good, but a lot of people recommend it because it used to be good. use something else that has an Ubuntu base (for app availability). I would recommend tuxedo os for kde plasma and pop os for a gnome-like experience but a little better. a lot of people recommend mint but I wouldn't, though the reason I wouldn't doesn't really matter to newer users. the most important thing to consider (assuming you're choosing something with an Ubuntu base ther handles drivers normally) is what desktop environment you want. Ubuntu is a modified version of gnome. gnome is kind of like the computer equivalent of how phones work (in a good way). kde plasma is visually a lot like windows (pre 11)by default, but has enough customization that it can look however you want (mine is set up with a windows 10 style taskbar, tiling, and gnome-like handling of virtual desktops). pop shell (what pop os has) is a modified version of gnome that is kind of in between gnome and a conventional desktop, and they are working on something new called cosmic that is even better. remember you can always use a virtual machine to test without affecting your normal system.

edit: forgot to mention cinnamon (mint's desktop). it looks pretty much just like windows 10 like kde, but it has less customization (on purpose). whether that matters or not is up to you.