This is for entertainment purposes only type of question - what if they moved just the desktop to Linux instead of OS X and port Cocoa atop Wayland? Leave the mobile stuff on iOS, which it seems it's good for.
This is the kind of revolutionary thinking Jobs had when he went OS 9 -> OS X... could Linux set them free on the desktop by open sourcing the desktop OS X?
I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but there's bits of OS X I like...and bits of Linux I like, as far as technology, architecture, speed, GUI frameworks... like some combo of the two would be a killer OS for the ages and open source too.
If this happened I would be unimaginably happy. Actually, one could argue that the move to open source Swift and invest resources into making it run on Linux could be keeping this option open.
And really, I don't think it's very ridiculous. As you've said, it's more or less exactly what Apple did with BSD/Mach and the OS 9 -> OS X transition.
This is the kind of revolutionary thinking Jobs had when he went OS 9 -> OS X... could Linux set them free on the desktop by open sourcing the desktop OS X?
I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but there's bits of OS X I like...and bits of Linux I like, as far as technology, architecture, speed, GUI frameworks... like some combo of the two would be a killer OS for the ages and open source too.