This being my primary problem with the current upheaval in Linux system organization. Its instigators have mostly made it clear that they consider everything not Linux (or possibly preferably not their favorite flavor thereof) to be obsolete - throwing portability out the window.

Frankly, it's getting old.

I fail to see the problem. Either something is portable, or something is not. It is basically up to the developer.

If not being portable means way less time spent on development, then some people might choose that. Good for them.

Yeah, but then when developers in other OS besides GNU/Linux take the same attitude, they get bashed to death for not caring about portable software.

do they? do you have any examples?

Microsoft.

Apple.

IBM.

DEC. Oh, wait, that didn't work out so well, now did it?