gtm strategy trumps nerdy perfectionism. Linux is successful because of its timing and probably accidental social engineering - regularly breaking out-of-tree drivers incentivized upstreaming hardware support. Doesn't matter how good an alternative would be on technical merits, there's too much momentum behind Linux.

Except maybe a fork where oxidation proceeds much faster, sponsored by a large corporation with bespoke hardware they can develop for and interest in security. Cloud OS-es or Android maybe.