This isn't exactly a new idea or even an unpopular one. Ask 10 people what Linux "should" be and you'll get 10 wildly different answers. I guarantee that if any one person were given infinite time, money, and energy to make their ideal Linux distro, a significant portion of the Linux userbase would HATE it, because there are always tradeoffs in engineering, you can't have it all, and many features are mutually-exclusive.
That said, I do agree that this particular tradeoff is underutilized. I'm not that old, all things considered, and I remember when Red Hat Linux versions were single digits, without a decimal. I was introduced to a very different Linux back then than exists today. Back then, Linux was essentially open-source Unix, copying the Unix world as much as possible, and focusing on usability for Unix nerds. It was great! For me, that is. Today, desktop Linux seems to have reached a Xeno's Paradox where Ubuntu et al. keep adding fancy new features (apparently Ubuntu has a "wellbeing panel" where you can set up screen time reminders - cool!) but each update makes less of an impact on feature parity or polish with Windows/Mac (to say nothing of market share).
I've been told to "try FreeBSD" and things like that, but people who say that don't really understand how monolithic the FOSS OS world is. FreeBSD is using the same components Linux does, just ten years out of date.
That said, I do agree that this particular tradeoff is underutilized. I'm not that old, all things considered, and I remember when Red Hat Linux versions were single digits, without a decimal. I was introduced to a very different Linux back then than exists today. Back then, Linux was essentially open-source Unix, copying the Unix world as much as possible, and focusing on usability for Unix nerds. It was great! For me, that is. Today, desktop Linux seems to have reached a Xeno's Paradox where Ubuntu et al. keep adding fancy new features (apparently Ubuntu has a "wellbeing panel" where you can set up screen time reminders - cool!) but each update makes less of an impact on feature parity or polish with Windows/Mac (to say nothing of market share).
I've been told to "try FreeBSD" and things like that, but people who say that don't really understand how monolithic the FOSS OS world is. FreeBSD is using the same components Linux does, just ten years out of date.