One aspect might be "avoiding getting stuck in local maxima". Starting with a "parallel universe" like RiscOS, FreeDOS, or the numerous Amiga-necromancy projec

One aspect might be "avoiding getting stuck in local maxima". Starting with a "parallel universe" like RiscOS, FreeDOS, or the numerous Amiga-necromancy projects might make it easier to get to some clever idea that we wouldn't easily find starting from the assumptions modern Linux systems impose.