> The ability to do so was what gave us systemd and pulseaudio, but the requirement that it be done before you can be taken seriously doesn't really add much va

> The ability to do so was what gave us systemd and pulseaudio, but the requirement that it be done before you can be taken seriously doesn't really add much value. It's also an insane request because it just can't be done. If I would want to provide an alternative to systemd for the mainstream distros, my first poinft of work would be to implement systemd. Because the environment around me assumes systemd, apart from some safe enclaves. If I were to provide an incompatible alternative I'd have to win the political war to have it be used or even just considered. Given how upstream looks today that is impossible, even if my solution were excellent. And in that space, nothing can compete against organized paid developers. And still: People did step up. There still is OpenRC, for example, which is what I'm using. There are the forks that work and provide alternatives. But Linux is more splintered than ever because of that. The situation with PA and ALSA is better, because ALSA always still worked (I know, because of being an underlying layer, but also without PA, which is nice).