You can use make as much as you like; Go just
doesn't need it. You can use
Go to fetch code from internet if you like, or you can do it yourself if
you prefer.
Regarding the "hardwired" directories, you can change it through an
environment variable.
My argument is that Go is making that an untenable exercise. E.g.,
forcing environment variable overrides means I don't have a source tree I
can check out *anywhere* and have it just build. No different from the
built-in assumptions the go command makes.
I get the feeling there won't be any sort of actual argument for or
against the Go regime, so I won't.