GNU/Octave has a great strength and weakness that it uses the Matlab language. This is great for many who are educated with Matlab but don't know much else. After some time I found Python and the ecosystem around numpy/scipy/matplotlib fit my problems much better. Python just much more flexible and better suited for general programming tasks than that weird matrix oriented language.
Why should anyone use Octave over Matlab?
- Licensing cost.
- Freedom.
Why should anyone learn Octave instead of Python?
- It's a bit easier to get started for scientists who are not programmers.
- If you mostly do vector/matrix math, the language is nice.
- Otherwise I don't know any good point.
All in all I like a free alternative to Matlab but have the feeling that most people are just better served by joining the much bigger Python ecosystem. (Or maybe R/Julia/Rust which I don't know so much about in this context.)