Terry is a good example, because the things that he made are finished. He finished TempleOS. He didn't abandon it in the middle after fixing most problems and then make a TempleOS 2, and hand it over to some organization or corporation that fucked it all up. I think the Suckless people are also a good example, though they are almost as anti-design as it gets. It's the same usual Unix copium of pretending that graphics and UI are bad to not have to actually do it and do it well. As has been has been done since the 80s.

Anyway, I don't think any of this will actually be solved. I just want to find good versions of good programs and stick with them, and actually, I think there is enough stuff out there that is good enough for me. But if you are willing to make your own tools, then it makes sense to do it. And you can base them on things that already exist, doesn't have to be completely from scratch.