It probably would work. Lots of people use Linux+Wine, but ReactOS exists too as a ground-up implementation with its own Windows-like kernel. Why didn't they j

It probably would work. Lots of people use Linux+Wine, but ReactOS exists too as a ground-up implementation with its own Windows-like kernel. Why didn't they just make a well-integrated wine distro instead? and the ReactOS wiki answers: """design and implementation decisions of Linux and Wine architectures which prevent 100% compatibility""". The ReactOS kernel also natively supports many Windows drivers. There is this question "Why not linux" in the Haiku FAQ: https://www.haiku-os.org/about/faq/#why-not-linux https://www.haiku-os.org/about/faq/#why-not-linux that suggests they just think it's more integrated and unified this way. They are probably correct. It sounds like you're thinking the world would be further along if people got behind one single cause. Maybe that's true, it is certainly more work to rebuild the world. But hobbyist interest is probably non-fungible, people are just going to build whatever they feel like.