> Can't help but wonder why there isn't more of them around in the "real world".
I think the biggest strength (and weakness) of the ideas both present in LISP and Plan9 is the consistency and internal integration. And, I see two big challenges with that.
One is technical: It is not that easy to reinvent everything and do it in such a way that makes it more consistent than existing systems. If we believe Conway's law such an effort would require a team as small as possible, optimally just a single person. Note that Plan9 for example does not fully integrate, the programming language and standard library are not composed of the same building blocks as the underlying system, there is a divide there.
The second is economical / political:
While such a consistency and internal integration is desired by the users and developers, it is not very beneficial to business. Image if all components were actually integrated with one another. How would management divide that into projects? How would you make marketable products from it? How would you implement your branding and vendor lock-in? Where would SaaS and subscription models fit in?
I think the biggest strength (and weakness) of the ideas both present in LISP and Plan9 is the consistency and internal integration. And, I see two big challenges with that.
One is technical: It is not that easy to reinvent everything and do it in such a way that makes it more consistent than existing systems. If we believe Conway's law such an effort would require a team as small as possible, optimally just a single person. Note that Plan9 for example does not fully integrate, the programming language and standard library are not composed of the same building blocks as the underlying system, there is a divide there.
The second is economical / political: While such a consistency and internal integration is desired by the users and developers, it is not very beneficial to business. Image if all components were actually integrated with one another. How would management divide that into projects? How would you make marketable products from it? How would you implement your branding and vendor lock-in? Where would SaaS and subscription models fit in?