Grub is really impressive in how it consistently spent the last 30 years focused on improving everything except the UX of the one workflow 99.99% of its involuntary users need it for (boot linux as reliably as possible, and make it easy to debug when it does not).
grub is just a operating system. it is quite good when shit hits the fan
~90% of the failure modes grub can fix don't exist without grub. I can't remember any time when its needless complexity was actually a net benefit compared to literally any of its alternatives (and between gummiboot/syslinux/efilinux/isolinux/systemd-boot/efistub I've used a lot of them).
i like grub, but i also remember pre-0.98 grub
i love HN but also starting to think it's time for us oldies to have our own one: cost of entry, having a distant memory of booting linux from a floppy
i have the memory of bios being so shit that i had to boot grub from a floppy to boot from a cd
My first linux system was a linux-on-a-floppy router that I ran on a spare 386 with two cards to provide NAT for my house, back in the days when internet providers tried to ban people for doing that.