Just reposting TempleOS's post (which, being hell-banned, many won't see). Plus, it's a little less ranty than usual :) Without further ado:
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To me abstraction above the hardware is like condoms. Some people say "Use three condoms, its better". I don't want a literal C64 -- just the complete open simple access... but 64-bit and 3Ghz and multicored. I don't want it to run on a 386, just x86_64.