Systemd flipped this all around, and now instead of just changing files, you have to use applications to specify changes to your system. Want to stop something from starting? Well, it used to be that you just move it out of the init directory, but now you have to know to “systemctl disable something.service”, or to view logs " journalctl -idk something.service" I dont even remember the flags for specifying a service, so I have to look it up, where it used to just be looking at a file (and maybe use grep to search for something specific)

not true, SystemD still uses files for this very reason…

and what is the last time you used the text version of a syslog.8.xz file?

you are basically complaining that you need to learn how your system works… before you can use it. and there is nothing preventing you from making your own distro that doesn't uses SystemD, or using rSyslog instead of systemd-journal for logging.

incidentally, to just view the logs its journalctl -xef (see https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/journalctl.1.html for what that means) it will be like the syslog you know.

want to see the status of a daemon : systemctl status want it for the system systemctl status want to see the logs of only a specific daemon journalctl -xefu . this all, means that its easier to find the logs for diffrent services since there not scattered somewhere in the /var/log dir… (is it in the syslog, does it have its own log file, is it in the kernel log)…

You are free to setup your system in whatever way you like… but whining about that something works differently is "Microsoft mentality"… lets leave that with them.