Lambdas in C++ are pretty new. Most of us who used std::algorithm had to write our own functor structs and do the variable capture by hand. Except that typically we didn't, because at that point a for loop is more readable. I think that's the essential objection to the STL: it's a library built around functional programming and not OO, in a language built around OO and not functional programming.

And of course there are a bunch of small dumb things in it. Why do we have make_heap() and friends instead of a heap type? Why does binary_search() return a bool instead of an iterator? Why didn't we get any hash tables until like 2010? Who thought the vector<bool> specialization was a good idea, and why didn't they benchmark it first?

The STL is a weird mix of brilliant, visionary API design and abject failure. Because of C++'s many limitations, the fail-y parts are the parts that most people are most familiar with. C++11 has done an incredible amount to turn that around, but at this point, for me, it's too late: I'd rather have a new language and new library, informed by C++'s successes without being bound to its mistakes.