A position I fought at PCLOS and in the Linux desktop development community for many years.What is the role of the OS anyway? Don't we all spend 99% of our time inside browsers and a few apps like email? I remember mentioning this to Steve Ballmer (then CEO of Microsoft). That the OS simply needed to be stable and that was that. That new features were not needed or desired. His answer was, "if what you are saying is true, we are toast!" Toast is what happened.
There the problems are compounded by the fact that there is no central guiding force. Every time a key person on a app dev team thinks he has a better idea, he leaves and forks the app. Everyone is always trying to reinvent the wheel and with their egos in play show the whole world how much of a better idea his is.
But Joe User just needs a simple, easy to use and maintain OS. One he doesn't have to completely re-learn every six months because that wheel got reinvented again. With people out there trying to live real lives, continuity is important. A position devs and coders can't seem to deal with. LOL