Perhaps - and most folks do (in principle) just want to put files on a computer and start a process.
But context changes and needs have become more sophisticated, particularly needs in isolation, consistency, elasticity. I think that the capabilities of traditional Unix kernel mechanisms, packaging systems, and userland tools, have lagged behind demand.
There's still opportunity for these needs to be met with refinements to standard 'nix mechanisms. I'd contribute to such a project, if it became the explicit design direction of a major distro.
Your comment relates more, I think, to the general Docker project than subuser specifically.
The answer to your question is that it all depends on your definition of "easier".
docker/docker hub hide a lot of complexity in linux namespacing/cgroups/seccomp filtering. You can absolutely achieve the same goal with native linux tools, as long as you have the time and inclination to learn those tools.
Unrealistic valuation? Is that what you call a couple hundred "stars" on github? If you ask me, stars aren't hardly worth squat. Perhaps a pull request every month or two... But I'm glad to see subuser getting some attention on HN now. Perhaps the PRs will start rolling in :D
