The original rationale for the JVM -- "write once, run anywhere" -- no longer exists since nobody downloads applets anymore.
The more sensible technology for making code run on multiple platforms still works quite well. It's called a compiler.
Not if you make OS specific syscalls. Your system has to account for the fact that not everybody runs on the same system. VMs do that, and do it far better than most compilers, when it comes to reliable cross-platform without doing a ton of re-writing.
