"You use a library dedicated to the task. In the Windows world I assume it's much better because you can use a magic unicorn to parse the registry?"
The Windows registry is a binary b-tree database so you don't have to read the whole file to find a value so it's way faster and more efficient than parsing a text file, you have single config repository in a specific location, you have improved system integrity due to fully atomic transactions and you have strongly typed data formats.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
