In Plan 9 you did have a real (synthetic) /net, and could do that and more from any program. You could even mount /net from another machine via 9P protocol and

In Plan 9 you did have a real (synthetic) /net, and could do that and more from any program. You could even mount /net from another machine via 9P protocol and have an instant VPN... 9front lets you play with that on Linux. Some Plan 9 like /net things are visible in Go libraries... (Rob Pike legacy)