Market share/popularity correlates directly to amount of available software, and their support. So it is completely rational to care about these metrics.
Could be both tbh. There are definitely ways in which Linux is better - no ads (cough Microsoft) or artificial restrictions (e.g. recording desktop audio cough Apple).
But in the most important ways - software availability and reliability - it is much worse.
Reliability for sure, though it has gotten better. You could argue that availability is better because it's all free, but I see what you are saying. Often enough I can't use a program natively on Linux.
I use Linux because it works for me and makes my life easier, is free/open and because I don't have to deal with Windows.