[PunchyHamster]

"Better" is not one dimensional scale

Adding more features to OS is for some use cases a benefit, for other it's a barrier. For one it might be less work to get what you want ,for other it might be more code between you and hardware that just slows it down

Unix-like simplicity is exactly that, for some use cases directness is a benefit, for others it means extra work to do on top to get what you want.

If you just want a house, getting a raw foundation to work with is a lot to build on top, you have to bring the rest of the walls up yourself.

But if you want exactly the house you want, getting entirely different house to start with and changing it is far more work than starting from simple foundation and building up.

Overall unix "here is relatively simple operating system that doesn't force you but needs some things to be built on top to hit your use case" probably IS the best abstraction, despise not being "best" at really anything. There is reason we build houses from concrete and wood, and not carbon fiber and titanium alloys