Second, even if that was the Linux philosophy, systemd didn't go against that choice. You can still choose whatever you want, by removing systemd from your system and replacing it with something else. This can be as simple as changing the symlink of /sbin/init to something else, but it gets harder if you have more configuration you need to migrate over to a different format. Systemd has not made this any easier or harder. It is the same as it always is when migrating between two different choices.
And if you really do not like the way systemd is developed, and you do not like any of the available replacements, then according to Mr. Torvalds you should go and make a replacement yourself, just like the parent commenter has taken the initiative to do.
That is unrelated to the issue. Developing any OS is not easy and takes expert work and a lot of time. No one ever said it was going to be easy. There is no choice that frees you from doing that work. The "choice" is entirely about how you are going to approach that work, and who you have chosen to do the work.
Saying that choice still exists because it can be done is disingenuous when others are saying that choice doesn't exist for most people who can't do it.
No, this is wrong in two ways.
First, that is not the Linux philosophy. According to Mr. Torvalds, the Linux philosophy is "Do it yourself": https://groups.google.com/g/linux.dev.kernel/c/qeeP584Ny08/m...
Second, even if that was the Linux philosophy, systemd didn't go against that choice. You can still choose whatever you want, by removing systemd from your system and replacing it with something else. This can be as simple as changing the symlink of /sbin/init to something else, but it gets harder if you have more configuration you need to migrate over to a different format. Systemd has not made this any easier or harder. It is the same as it always is when migrating between two different choices.
And if you really do not like the way systemd is developed, and you do not like any of the available replacements, then according to Mr. Torvalds you should go and make a replacement yourself, just like the parent commenter has taken the initiative to do.