It seems we have different assumptions we're basing our arguments on.
I get the impression that the huge diversity of linux distros is enabled primarily by the fact that more and more development these days is web and not native.
I'm guessing they all (the linux distros), in one way or another, add value given each project's mission statement. Or at least they believe they are. Otherwise they probably wouldn't be doing it.
And I don't think we'd have to fear the OS will become a "glorified browser shell" if it wasn't the primary "app development platform".
Right now native app development is feasible. You have pretty much 3 platforms you really need to worry about developing for in order to have access to the largest amount of market share for the least amount of effort. Imagine even one more player enters the market and gains any respectable amount of market share.
Instantly every mobile app development team's efforts need to grow or every developer on each team's responsibilities grow linearly with the total number of platforms they need to develop for. From an operational standpoint it's not sound economics to make business decisions based on approaches that don't scale well.
There isn't any great diversity in Linux distros interface-wise. You basically have a handful of distros that use X Windows and one of the four old window managers.
I appreciate that. I agree it's not obvious what, if any differences exist between alot of the lesser-known distros. However I would argue that a large enough sample from the most popular Linux Distros has something substantively unique to offer.
But we haven't even considered BSD-flavor. Perhaps if we expanded to include BSD-based operating systems. To name a few: FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD, PcBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD.
All of the BSDs mentioned above have a very unique mission.
It's easier for me (as consumer) to choose any one of those to run my desktop / laptop knowing that I'm going to pretty much get all the same access to apps that I would if I were to run Windows or OS X.
Without any reassurance that I'm going to be able to do what I need to do on a BSD or Linux machine, I'm probably going to be stuck choosing something created and maintained by Microsoft or Apple.
