Literally the only argument I've seen that is even close to reasonable
is that some people like text logs and journald is a binary log format,
and fixing that requires adding one line to a config file.
Please, someone explain this to me.
I'll give it a shot
See, traditionally, this isn't how things are done in the Linux
world. Generally, if you have a snazzy idea for an init system (for
example) what you'd do is offer it as an option and let users decide.
The idea is to minimise the changes that will be made by the new
system (other than improvements to the boot system). That way
people who are interested in the new technology can try it and
report benefits, problems, make suggestions and, if the new software
really provides tangible improvements, more people will start using it
and in time it'll probably end up as the default init system
on a good many distros. Even then, you'd expect other init-systems to
be available as options.
What doesn't work so well on the whole is taking your new init system,
declaring that anyone who can't see its benefits is either an idiot or
a luddite, and bringing political pressure to bear to get distros to
adopt your baby as the default choice. Especially at the same time as
trying to tie it into as many other pieces of software as possible
thus making it very difficult to replace it with any of the alternatives.
That goes doubly when, as is the case with systemd, we have an immature solution under heavy development, with no firm specification, and developers who have a reputation for being less than helpful. This isn't Microsoft. Solutions don't get invented by some privileged few and adopted because Word comes down from On High. They get adopted
because a lot of people use them and find them useful.
And any time it looks like someone is trying to subvert that process ... well, it makes a lot of people skittish. And in those cases, I'd just as soon not have the offending package on my computers.
If systemd is as good as its supporters suggest, then it'll become widely adopted without all this ballyhoo. Conversely, if it's failings are severe enough that it can't gain widespread acceptance without politicising the entire debate, then I don't want it anywhere near me.