All systemd related processes (dbus, systemd-*, init, etc) running on my system are using < 25Mb of memory. So that is a bit excessive, even if exaggerating for effect.

It shouldn't even need that much though. All PID 1 should do is load the rest of the system.

I don't normally get into these, but this is blatantly false, I'm running systemd on multiple older/smaller computers like an OG Raspberry Pi and an old netbook, and I don't even notice its memory consumption.

We run systemd on 512mb celerons no problem...

I'm sad that 512mb is now considered a small amount. I've got a couple of systems in my drawer that have <128mb.

I still have my 75 MHz Pentium 12MB EDO RAM laptop running Windows 95 and holding my old BBS sitting in my drawer. Battery is shot but plug it in and it still works.

systemd works fine even on the RPi.