SystemV init allows for init scripts to run in parallel, but that was rarely used. Most time spent was anyhow waiting for network (e.g. the MTA trying to resol

SystemV init allows for init scripts to run in parallel, but that was rarely used. Most time spent was anyhow waiting for network (e.g. the MTA trying to resolve the hostname) and hardware initialization. Bourne shell isn't particularly fast, but ten years ago hardware used for typical Linux desktop/server systems was fast enough that it hardly mattered (it's used here for sequentially starting system processes, not number crunching). Not that it matters -- how often do you boot a desktop/server in a day? Performance mattered for VMs deployed in the cloud on request, but whether a full OS is the best choice for such services is a different topic ...