Hi,
Just my 2 cents about this issue.
I think that Linux has no special responsibility in The Hurd having few help on its developing; If it wasn't Linux, it would have been FreeBSD, or NetBSD, or MyUnixClone.
The fact is that people wanted: . Reliable systems . Free systems
And Linux and the others gave it to them, "quickly" (faster than The Hurd could, probably).
But I don't think this is a Bad Thing for The Hurd; It is having much more time for a much better development, and if, finally, it's design proves superior, I have no doubt that it will clear the world of Linuxes and alikes.
But "meantime", I think we have some excelent, free unix derivatives. 8)
Regards.