why does deep space nine keep running what is essentially a cardassian operating system. give that thing to the right nerd and they'd have Linux running on it in a weekend
since this post did well, here's some cool/good additions people made:
They have universal translators in Star Trek. But why do we assume the limits of the tech are just spoken language?
Think about every time a ship puts its viewscreen on to establish a video call to another vessel. Did every spacefaring species out there independently stumble upon Zoom? Hell no. The UT is working overtime converting one protocol to another, so fast and seamless that real time video conferencing is possible.
Why replace the Cardassian operating system on DS9? The engineers who have to work with the system directly might grumble, and sure it has its idiosyncrasies, but for every end user it doesn't matter if DS9 was running Cardassian, Federation, or Pakled. As long as it's up and operational, It Just Works.
Imagine a world of computers where interoperability between systems and protocols was a complete and total non-issue. Why would you worry about being on The One True Operating System when It Is Working And Also We're In Space So One Fuckup And We All Die is a much more pressing concern?
And, like @tef pointed out in their post, there'd be so much fucking bureaucracy on top of everything else.