I would agree that the 358s/324s cannot replace the 741s in case crossover distortion is a big issue, but in other cases the advantages are obvious:
- 2/4 instead of one in a single case
That brings up *why* true dual 741s were so expensive and it was simply because the integrated 30 picofarad capacitor takes up a lot of space. The 358/324 design only requires a 5 picofarad compensation capacitor because it was designed with transconductance reduction of the first stage making it suitable for dual and quad parts. What you are asking for is the 1458 which is a 741 designed with transconductance reduction making it suitable for dual and quad parts.
- more current
That requires larger output transistors and increased power dissipation compromises precision. There were a lot of high voltage and high current parts based on the 741 design but they were ultimately not economical.
- negative rail included in input and output, thats often enough.
Single supply and rail-to-rail outputs are feasible but complicate the design and the extra area increases the cost.
Single supply and rail-to-rail inputs exclude input bias current compensation. Rail-to-rail inputs compromise common mode rejection.
The above implies that there should be high performance precision parts with rail-to-rail outputs, and there are.
- cheaper
Anything which increases the area of the chip or increases the testing time also increases the production cost.
- slightly faster
There are plenty of faster (3 MHz) 741 equivalents based on the PNP input MC4558 dual and RC4138 quad. They are not true 741s, having PNP inputs means that their input bias current is reversed, but they were intended to have 741 performance except for being faster.