[chaosharmonic]

^ further, there's the fact that distributions (and the various parts therein) frequently duplicate one another's work in the name of taking different approaches at the same problem, and usually the solutions that become more mainstream are the ones that several of them have collectively settled on.

Android has a similar, if more centralized feedback loop: AOSP drops, device makers build out customizations on top of it, Google adopts some of these features upstream (whether by building new implementations or merging contributions from vendors), and then those vendors go on to building the next differentiating thing now that they don't have to dedicate those resources to individually maintaining stylus support/multiwindow/notification badges/whatever.