The short answer, agreeing with @crtlaltdel, is that Linux is getting really popular for embedded/IoT use cases. A lot of "embedded" devices are starting to look more and more like real servers. The latest model of Raspberry Pis go up to 4gb of RAM!
Linux has been standard in the cloud for a long time and as a result the tooling is pretty mature now. Projects like Kubernetes are great for managing servers in the cloud and have become quite standard. We noticed the same level of tooling for running Linux on devices just wasn't there yet, and so we decided to try and fix that!
That being said, there are certainly use cases where Linux isn't the best choice. If you have realtime requirements or you need low power usage then using an RTOS is a better option.
Linux has been standard in the cloud for a long time and as a result the tooling is pretty mature now. Projects like Kubernetes are great for managing servers in the cloud and have become quite standard. We noticed the same level of tooling for running Linux on devices just wasn't there yet, and so we decided to try and fix that!
That being said, there are certainly use cases where Linux isn't the best choice. If you have realtime requirements or you need low power usage then using an RTOS is a better option.