And yet Linux distros like Ubuntu around 9.0 were much more stable than these days.
With 16.04 I get core lockups (Intel microcode) and cannot switch out of X with Ctrl-Alt-F1.
NetworkManager no longer connects the mobile surfstick, so I do it manually now with pppd.
I can't claim that I had a specific problem with systemd, but I never had an issue with SysVinit either.
The overall trend however is that Linux distros accumulate crapware by RedHat's NIH developers. I'm not surprised that NetworkManager is also by RedHat.