The resulting trend is drivers for older/less common hardware are being dropped.

Linux complexity comes with a huge cost. At some point, the overhead is such that it'd be easier to start over.

I would argue we're long past that point. But inertia is a bitch, and insane money is being poured on Linux with little to show for it, just because.

Fortunately, seL4 foundation is picking up momentum, with large companies joining every year. There is some hope in the horizon.

Or maybe because just like C++ Linux has reached the point of no return, no amount of LLMs can save it, big money is the whole reason for its existence.

A replacement can come soon enough.