Yeah, there is something to "us" being able to afford it.

Personally I think it's time to go L4 microkernel instead of Linux monolith and adapt the OS for today's adversarial environment. Maybe along the lines of RedoxOS but without as many unsafe {} blocks.

Not try to support all kinds of different hardware, just focus on one configuration to begin with.

We would have to accept not having many apps and having less slick UI for a long time. And also plan ahead for how to manage a possible onslaught of patent lawsuits from both Apple & Google.