&gt; On the one hand you have the traditional server&#x2F;sysadmin<p>&gt; On the other hand you have the desktop&#x2F;web<p>I&#x27;ve understood that systemd is about modernizing the init&#x2F;service system for modern usage scenarios.<p>Gone are the days of the 80&#x27;s when hardware was static and always plugged in, these days you have laptops that get docked and undocked, plugged and unplugged, connected to different networks etc. You have NICs and sound cards appearing and disappearing (USB NICs and DAC&#x27;s), not to mention hard drives and USB drives... All of this needs to be properly supported on modern desktops and laptops and tablets. That&#x27;s what systemd does.