Can't the changes be gradually introduced? We change distros every year or reinstall the OS every time a new version of the distro is released. That's a newly c

Can't the changes be gradually introduced? We change distros every year or reinstall the OS every time a new version of the distro is released. That's a newly compiled set of executables that are being installed every year. If the distro guys just did for the next version (Atleast the guys like Debian, Fedora etc from whom most other distros are derived) wouldn't most systems be protected? It would take a while but it wouldn't take 10 years atleast. Mass adoption is impossible but incremental changes are. If critical executables are patched then we have atleast a partially protected system right? (I am not an expert but this sounds a bit more plausible than breaking the entire userland)