[...]
> I'm going to ignore the remainder of this because - while system startup
> is a topic of some interest to me - people warring over the right way to
> replace UNIX(*) because it's broken isn't.
Since this is maybe/ likely a bit harsh (and I'm trying to rid myself of
this style): If you're convinced that "rip and replace" is the only
viable option then I won't claim that you're wrong because I really
don't know. However, until I hit a technical obstacle, I won't be
convinced that the existing system can't be fixed (I acknowledge almost
all defects you mentioned) and this is based on being familiar (as in 'I
wrote the code') with both approaches. A social reason, eg, $someone
pays my bills ($someone =~ /hat/) and that's what I did and you will
have to eat it aka 'resistance is futile ...' won't do.