Gentoo Linux has been using OpenRC for at least as long as I've been using it (~25 years). It's unfortunate that OpenRC was unable to summon the manpower to do the spot-additions required for it to win the political war way back when Debian was looking to move from straight SysV init.
>>simonc+(OP)
It would have never happened. Systemd wasn't chosen because "we the people" chose it. Things don't work like that anymore, regardless of what the marketing brochure might say.