I understand that it makes sense to use /etc/redhat-release or /etc/gentoo-release to identify os platform (aka the origin of the linux)
but why not use os name from /etc/os-release? which will more accurately describe the exact linux os name (e.g. the exact variant of a redhat)
You ask "why"... Asking why is sometimes hard to answer. In this case, I suspect it's because
/etc/os-releaseis a systemd thing, and not universal.Osquery tries to work on a broad range of operating systems.
As for whether it's better to try it, maybe? Osquery is a volunteer project. You could submit that as a patch (or an issue)