How common is this in Linux development? Is it better to have two competing solutions and "may the best one win"? Or would it be more effective for those two teams to work together on one project?
Maybe someone will come along and write a new desktop environment in Rust or something that's better than the other two. My fear that then we'll have three desktop environments.
Another option is to accept that these old debates will never be resolved and to start over with something new that isn't Linux. I've had a feeling like that's the best option that's been growing for the last few years. It's an enormous amount of work, though.
I don't know if GNU for example can get around that by having Stallman there to give the final say, or the Linux kernel with Torvalds there. Perhaps a similar approach would be good for DEs.