Since one of those quotes is mine ...

Is the problem that we aren't doing the current distribution model well enough or that the basic model is wrong and we need a different one where the space between upstream application releases and when they appear on a user's desktop is substantially shorter.

There are people that seem to be assuming that latter is true, but it's exactly that, an assumption and we should build on unique positive differentiators in Linux distributions rather than throw the model away in order to be more like our competition.