When I took a Linux course in college I had an old laptop that I installed Linux on. However, for some reason my wireless card wouldn't work. I mentioned it to my professor and the next day he told me "It's actually quite simple, you just have to open up the source code for the wireless driver and make a one line change."
Maybe things have gotten better, but I think that's why people use Mac. It's POSIX but without having to jump through arcane hoops.
The problem with the linux desktop was usually that most hardware companies were either not spending any time/effort on non-windows drivers/compatibility or when they did it was a tiny fraction of the effort that went into working around bugs in the windows driver API's.
Today with the failure of windows in both the mobile and industrial control space we now see vendors actually giving a damn about the quality of their Linux drivers.
Today the main factor keeping the enterprise marked locked on windows is the fat clients written around the turn of the millennium, and that's as much a problem for mac adaptation as it is Linux adaptation.
The macs are slick well designed devices that speaks to a huge segment of the consumer market so will eventually find the way into the high cost niches where no specific dependency on legacy software exists but they are too expensive and inflexible to replace all of the wintel system so for Microsoft and it's partners to have their license to screw over the enterprise sector revoked Linux(or FreeBSD) will have to play a role too.
Things have definitely gotten better. I remember the painful years. My most recent Ubuntu install on a new laptop was about 3 years ago. As someone who has used Linux as the daily driver for more than a decade (and dual booted as a second OS for another decade) I was pleasantly surprised that everything just worked! I think that was a first
It was an HP from Costco, not something special sold with Linux. My wireless worked, dual monitors just worked, even the fingerprint reader that I never use. I remember sitting there thinking "I didn't have to fight anything?" Hopefully that becomes the norm, maybe it is - I haven't needed a new laptop yet.
Maybe things have gotten better, but I think that's why people use Mac. It's POSIX but without having to jump through arcane hoops.