Look at Plan 9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs
Union mounts have been particularly interesting: something plan9 implemented, but no one else has successfully.
But I'd really love to have an OS that sweeps the pile of legacy cruft we've built up and replaces it with something simpler & smaller. In a sense Plan 9 is just that. But I'm sure one can go further down that road.