Tell that to the millions of customers there trying to sell it to. Thats the problem. Having a more recognized OS would have helped heaps.

No it wouldn't. The point of SteamOS is to get developers to not rely on Windows alone, and they succeeded half and half. The amount of game support for macOS and Linux has skyrocketed. It's not fully there yet, but now one can actually just dump Windows and use Linux full time, even for gaming when making a few compromises.

The problem of the Steam Machines is that living room PC's aren't a popular product category at all. They tried that before in the 80's. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now, except for a niche audience.

Why would you want to dump Windows? OS works great for gaming plus DX12 is exclusive to it. With Windows you get all Drivers and APIs while Linux you miss out on DX12. And considering DX is the most popular API for Devs like Blizzard, why would you settle for less? Linux is a backward step. Its good for what it does however you end up with alot less options.

It's supported by Vulkan and driver support is starting to overshoot Windows. Linux is in most cases built better and you don't need to babysit your OS settings to make the damn thing run properly. Linux is in many cases a surperior OS, it just has (as of now) less game support.

Because Steam Box acted more of a downgrade. Why would anyone buy one when there not running Steam off an OS which adds so many more features. I was going to be a day one owner until i heard its running off Linux. I am better off just plugging in my Laptop in my TV and using that as my Steam Box because it uses Windows which allowed me alot more features to use my system for. Just a box for Steam? Its not convincing. And i understand the story behind it and why they couldnt use Win10 etc. Its fair on Valve however Steam should never had existed. They should have paired up with Mac if that was the case.

You keep saying Linux lacks certain features but you don't specify what. Linux is a very featured OS and it's much more open and extandable then Windows will ever be.

Linux lacks the damn games...  Only 20% Of my Steam library is available on SteamOS.  Why would I use an OS which only plays 20% of my library?  They are taking forever on converting games to Linux to be available on SteamOS.    I dislike Microsoft a lot and would have switched to a Linux OS but the games simply aren't there.  It would be like trying to play computer games on Apple computer.  

*cough* 2/3th of my library is available on my Mac's, and I can up that to 3/4th with Wine, which has increased in development speed recently.