Actually I think it's good idea to have two types of logs

Splunk is really more about using the data in the logs for enterprise systems management. Suggesting its purpose is solely for reformatting syslog data is inaccurate.

Structure would improve things a bit, but no self-respecting systems administrator would suggest they can't do their job without a bit of binary hand-holding. The binary fileformat could cause more problems then it cures. Care should be used in providing an ability to access this information with simply tools.