Good discussion/a couple of ways forward
Maybe the time has come to fork the desktop and server in Linux. The needs of each have been diverging for a long time. Sure, systemd is a key component of both Docker and cloud distros like CoreOS. Its "black box" approach to setting up and running services and interacting with the underlying system is suited to turnkey server platforms. But those of us who have been general purpose server admins for awhile have all experienced the frustration of working around services and software that, while they may be key to a better desktop experience, just get in the way on a server (e.g. NetworkManager). Why put us through that just so Ubuntu can make its play in the handset market, Steam can take over the gaming world, or Gnome subsume Android and OSX on tablets?
Of course, if no distro comes forward and provides the option of a reasonable server implementation there's always BSD. I doubt the learning curve for Linux server admins to master one of the (extraordinarily well-documented) BSDs would be any steeper than adapting to systemd, so long as the process was approached with humility and open minds.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
