I won't try to speak for Linus (perhaps he'd like to pipe up at some point), but I think you're pulling that concept wayy out of context here.
Quoting ManagementStyle:
Btw, another way to avoid a decision is to plaintively just whine "can't
we just do both?" and look pitiful. Trust me, it works. If it's not
clear which approach is better, they'll eventually figure it out. The
answer may end up being that both teams get so frustrated by the
situation that they just give up.
Built into that paragraph, I think, is the assumption that you never 'do both'.
Also, referring to OSS/Alsa is just a great way to illustrate the problem with your idea. There is, today, finally a "dominant" solution, but how long did it take us to get there? By my count, a really long time! And along the way we've had to deal with all kinds of applications that just support the first and not the other. And it seems like far too many people still have just one foot in the door - take for instance the README files shipped with commercial game ports that advise using OSS at the first hint of trouble with Alsa.
Is this what we want for wireless?