1. old,

2. designed by a huge group,

3. intended to serve many purposes

UNIX was, at least in its early days, the opposite in all three ways. But, after 15 years or so, it also was numbers 1 - 3. (Speaking of System V here.)

There have been OSes that remained beautifully sleek and uncluttered forever. Such as BeOS. However, all such systems failed to achieve critical mass. Which is why they remained true.

No way out of this trap.

--Marc