Even then, using USB devices WITH drivers beat the hell out of configuring IRQ and DMAs. I remember the ordeal it was when you wanted to add or change something and you had conflicting IRQs... pfff..
The IBM PC looked remarkably primitive in comparison.
Woops... disconnected the mouse/kb by mistake? off you go rebooting the computer. I think that does indeed make it a good reason to say USB is superior.
Motorola 68K and specialized high quality embedded units? (like amiga): no it will be overprices compared to the cough future price of an evolutive PC. Which final form are below average quality and overpriced embedded devices.
Had you followed the way of the old wise and chosen motorola architecture, you would not have theses problems. :)