I think this is kinda funny.
Step away from the commercial distros of linux and the 3 flagship BSDs and you will find some small groups working on some great stable secure and painstakingly hacked (lovingly not malicious) kernels and apps.
I think the biggest problem with Linux distros is the commercialization of it. Because this does lead to the project manager dictaiting production rather than the coders. The other problem is inherent in any group project. Look at Craigslist.org There are plenty of idiots ruining that. What another example? Look at IRC, go to EFNet. So many people get involved there is poor management of the whole. Last fun example: Roman Empire. The populus was so great and so diverse it led to the destruction and dismantling of an entire nation.
To bring it back around, remember what linux's goal was. Remember the spirit of it, then put down your box and install gui and get back to hacking a kernel. DIY. Heck, look an minix. Or the linux router distributions, everything is on a floppy not 5CDs... you do remember floppies right?
I guess Linux has its best applications. But it seems lately its all the cool to hate MS thing (we hated Ma Bell when we were boxing her), and the cool to be a 1337 h4x0R trip.
I have been using Linux for Mail, Web, Firewall, and Router for years without many problems.
My infrastructure is run on Windows, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
My desktop and laptop are both Mac OSX (devil inside)
Robert Liebsch
Stone Yamashita Partners