> (Of course the 386 is technically still segmented, but let's ignore that)
Yes, the 80386 was still technically segmented, but the overwhelming majority of operating systems (95%+) effectively abandoned segmentation for memory protection and organization, except for very broad categories such as kernel vs. user space.
Instead, they configured the 80386 registers to provide a large linear address space for user processes (and usually for the kernel as well).
> The idea that someone would create a couple descriptors with base=0:limit=4G and set all the segment register to them, in order to assure that int=void * is sorta a known possible misuse of the core architecture
The thing that you mischaracterize as a "misuse" of the architecture wasn't just some corner case that was remotely "possible", it was what 95% of the industry did.
The 8086 wasn't so much a design as a stopgap hail-mary pass following the fiasco of the iAPX 432. And the VAX existed long before the 8086.
