@thor It was probably better and more efficient. Remember having less than 1GB of RAM and using floppy disks? It was terrible but it taught values that modern computers don't.

A virus killing an OS was a regular occurrence. Having to open a computer to replace a card for a certain use was common and people lived off the hardware.

Performance penalties will increase the further we distance the code from the hardware. Perhaps the most important point is that the user is further removed from the hardware and less knowledgeable about the features. This Security Fallacy is going to ensure less impressive code as a parasite core will keep useful features behind barriers.

Programmers now have to play in a sandbox with their degrees that crush their ambitions. They will use what they were taught with fear of deviating from a textbook. Perhaps there exists a better way but if they tried it in University, they were likely punished for going outside of the textbook.

Modern design principles are the cause of the problem. The principals were likely formed as the old assembly coders and C coders were becoming disillusioned and deciding to quit. Perhaps the industry deserves this. They reap what they have sown, the grapes of wrath.