Maybe it's time for distributions to slim down considerably to the point where they really only contain everything that's needed for the system to run on its ow

Maybe it's time for distributions to slim down considerably to the point where they really only contain everything that's needed for the system to run on its own. All end-user software (with all their dependencies - disk space is cheap nowadays) would then be installed directly from the vendors - as it's done on every other OS on the planet. I run Debian/XFCE, for two main reasons. One is proper focus-follows-mouse support (why I stopped using Gnome, well before they started their current "look like a designed-for-touchscreen shell" insanity). The other is that I can use apt-get/aptitude to install just about anything, whenever I want (why I don't just use Windows). You might notice that that second reason is being copied by the smartphone people with their app stores.