Announcing TermKit

I think he is missing a very (if not the most) important aspect of the "traditional Unix" model - simplicity. It works because it is extremely simple - to implement, to understand, to debug. That also means it is very flexible.

When we start involving asynchronous completions, Node.js, JSON, and even proportional fonts, all my professional experience and intuition (as a system developer, not as an admin) tells me that we have crossed the limit where complexity trumps usability. The thinking that everything has to fit inside a common framework is exactly what has lead to the Windows registry hell :-)

He has certainly identified real (and well known) problems, but the proposed solution is just way too complex.

Take the "somewhat parseable text" problem, which is certainly valid, but addressing it doesn't require changing the world. Applications can be modified to generate and process structured output, for example with a command line switch. That is up to the application developer - predictable, simple. Certainly not a policy I want enforced by a "kit".

Or "remote SSH lag" on a high latency link. A very simple solution is to do readline locally.

Or "bash escaping". A very real problem, true - bash as a whole is a horrible abomination, which we tolerate simply because it happens to be more powerful than the alternatives (especially if you are coming from "command.com" :-) But bash is "just" a shell. Completely replaceable. Use Python if you prefer. Nothing can be done for the existing scripts anyway.