Published at LXer:

The systemd development team had the pleasure of announcing the release and immediate availability for download of the systemd 225 open-source, next-generation init system for GNU/Linux distributions.

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We were correct to suspect systemd was an attempt to take over Linux!

Thankfully, there is still the BSDs......

It's completely pointless to talk about system creep or debate whether systemd adheres to the "UNIX philosophy." It's obvious to me that the developers of systemd will not be finished until they have a completely new operating system sitting on top of the kernel.

Systemd didn't take over because the major distros felt it was the best solution to some problem. I'm convinced they simply saw the writing on the wall when RH switched, realized that the majority of their current user bases will care more Wayland's bells and whistles than they will about init systems or modularity, and decided they didn't want to be left behind to wither.

This is probably going to hurt some feelings, but I blame everything that has happened within the last two years on the "Ubuntification" of Linux. It may have been a noble goal to create a streamlined GUI-oriented distribution that catered to the less-experienced, but it's not hard to understand that the influx of new users got Red Hat salivating. They have been dreaming of the day they could compete with Apple and Microsoft, and thought it was finally approaching. "Just think how many MORE people would be using Linux if we standardized system management and access into a common utility core...let's do away with GNU and create a brand new set of APIs that will attract developers and unlock the power of Linux on the desktop!" And of course the same people that the move is engineered to attract are also the least likely to care about the ramifications.

I have to imagine there are a lot of long-standing community members that feel totally sold out by all these changes to the platform they have loved and actually supported for years. Especially considering they are being cast aside to court a generation of hipster and non-technical users who have no real commitment to any of what it stood for.

I'll be riding out the storm on Slackware. We need to stop deluding ourselves: Linux is the kernel, not the processes that sit atop it. As such, systemd poses no existential threat to it. GNU is the real target here. I'm still holding out hope that Slackware and others will preserve GNU/Linux throughout the next few years while systemd/Linux rises to a relative peak and then crashes back down. That will be inevitable as soon as the transient Ubuntu-base moves back to OS X/Windows when they realize Linux STILL doesn't provide all the things those systems do in the space Red Hat wants to compete in.