But Ubuntu did put some effort into improving the init process with Upstart, and it was the fastest init system until systemd beat it by being way way better at multi threading.
Ubuntu also massively improved how well Linux worked on laptops, and upstart was part of that effort too.
What is best can be subjective, being the most popular signifies that most people found it to be best.
Yes upstart was relatively short lived 8 years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstart_(software)
But Ubuntu did put some effort into improving the init process with Upstart, and it was the fastest init system until systemd beat it by being way way better at multi threading.
Ubuntu also massively improved how well Linux worked on laptops, and upstart was part of that effort too.
What is best can be subjective, being the most popular signifies that most people found it to be best.