But the real work is all the hard work that goes into a fork. I've watched open forks die all the time--all it takes is no one to step up and do/pay for the work, which is basically the default, because it is in everyone's interest if someone else is the one to do that.

I think that's really the crux of the problem--there are plenty of folks willing to maintain software for money, and a whole lot of people who'd rather it not cost money and if it does, not their money.

If the tooling is better, who is going to maintain this?