I think its because linux got there first and designed these interfaces
To quote Ted Tso (author of the above patch and the original writer of /dev/random in the first place)
The two other interfaces are two character devices /dev/random and
* /dev/urandom. /dev/random is suitable for use when very high
* quality randomness is desired (for example, for key generation or
* one-time pads), as it will only return a maximum of the number of
* bits of randomness (as estimated by the random number generator)
* contained in the entropy pool.
*
* The /dev/urandom device does not have this limit, and will return
* as many bytes as are requested. As more and more random bytes are
* requested without giving time for the entropy pool to recharge,
* this will result in random numbers that are merely cryptographically
* strong. For many applications, however, this is acceptable.
To quote Ted Tso (author of the above patch and the original writer of /dev/random in the first place)
The two other interfaces are two character devices /dev/random and * /dev/urandom. /dev/random is suitable for use when very high * quality randomness is desired (for example, for key generation or * one-time pads), as it will only return a maximum of the number of * bits of randomness (as estimated by the random number generator) * contained in the entropy pool. * * The /dev/urandom device does not have this limit, and will return * as many bytes as are requested. As more and more random bytes are * requested without giving time for the entropy pool to recharge, * this will result in random numbers that are merely cryptographically * strong. For many applications, however, this is acceptable.