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>For one, on some OS's (like Windows), the syscall interface is unstable

True but if someone is dealing with syscalls on Windows they're programming something very unusual.

>so you really want to use kernel32.dll and friends or you're signing up for pain.

Why? There is no pain involved unless a function that isn't implemented in older versions is imported.

You don't have to use syscalls directly. If you statically link a library that makes system calls, then a syscall interface change will break your app. But if you wrap all system calls in a dylib, then that dylib insulates you against syscall interface changes.

Syscalls are irrelevant for almost everybody programming Windows applications. I didn't write about Mac OS X.

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