I think the linux kernel is close to that. And if you go with a minimal distro like alpine, then you're not that far away from what is described. Compare it to

I think the linux kernel is close to that. And if you go with a minimal distro like alpine, then you're not that far away from what is described. Compare it to MacOS where just launching a program is a whole shenanigan. I have a small digital audio player running linux and the interface is a single program. I like OS for their flexibility, but when I look at my computing needs (as a user), I'd be fine with just a small list of software. Anything else is nice, but not "essential". I think that's why iPad has been successful, it's the graphic DOS. You launch an app and for all purposes, it may be the only one running on the hardware.