I was merely trying to add a pragmatic
voice to the discussion - commercial R&D is often driven by
top-down management style directives made by those in
charge. This is a deliberate structure I would say that is
set out to ensure that duplicity doesn't take place in the
development process and to ensure development resources are
efficiently utilised. Without this kind of streamlining it
is difficult to implement top-down directives in the first
place (such as "all linux distros should use this common
linux audio layer because we said so").
Well, maybe there's some misunderstanding.
I do not intend to tell anyone what audio system he should use
in his system in a top-bottom manner.
But on the other hand, if suddenly all applications had
support for a certain audio layer, people would use it.
It's not my intention to urge anyone to use a certain thing or
not. But compared to CUPS, CUPS was a great thing and is
meanwhile included in all major Distributions. If you dislike
it, install something else. But for the common user, it's
nice that it is there and is well preconfigured.
Best regards
ce