Talk about creating more problems than you solve. If this was such a good model, why aren't all linux distros shipped with a minimal set of tools, where the users are given a "go build it all yourself" note on the box? I will tell you why; because it's a suckfest that can drag expert and non-expert linux swashbucklers into the weeds for untold amounts of time depending on the software that needs to be built.
Just because something is a bad idea today doesn't necessarily mean it will forever remain so. What we have today is far from perfect and I think any effort to branch out is a good idea. In the worst case, we won't be any worse off than we are today.
Of course, my whole idea depends on many things such as the hypothesis that processing and storage will continue to get cheaper with time. I don't know if it will be true. I hope it will though.
