> You’ve established that a Linux desktop environment in macOS style alone is not sufficient, and that makes me wonder what details of the underpinnings is Linux getting wrong compared to Mac? Is launchd superior to systemd?

Pretty much anything is better than systemd.

CoreAudio is far superior to anything Linux has.

WindowServer is better than Wayland.

The “everything is better than systemd” thing is a reactionary hot take from the early days of systemd. In practice systemd has a lot of great tools and I can’t think of any from macOS that are superior. For example, macOS has nothing close to the power that systemd journal gives you. Launchd uses XML, has less flexibility on launch dependencies, and has worse debugging functionality.

You should look into PipeWire for audio in Linux. It can do things that no other audio platform can. Route a browser tab into Audacity while also sending it to a virtual mic for a call, while a synth app feeds a DAW.

I would agree that Wayland has more development time to go to get better, but Wayland is architected better from the start and represents a more modern design. A lot of Wayland’s security advantages are by design where macOS had to tack them on after the fact. You also get a modular, extensible architecture with compositer diversity.