But context changes and needs have become more sophisticated, particularly needs in isolation, consistency, elasticity. I think that the capabilities of traditional Unix kernel mechanisms, packaging systems, and userland tools, have lagged behind demand.

There's still opportunity for these needs to be met with refinements to standard 'nix mechanisms. I'd contribute to such a project, if it became the explicit design direction of a major distro.

The answer to your question is that it all depends on your definition of "easier".

docker/docker hub hide a lot of complexity in linux namespacing/cgroups/seccomp filtering. You can absolutely achieve the same goal with native linux tools, as long as you have the time and inclination to learn those tools.