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The problem of powershell model it's a closed system. If it does X, it's awesome. If it doesn't X, but there's a tool that does X and doesn't speak the same language powershell speaks - you are out of luck. That's where simple exchange formats win - they can combine tools from different domains. If I have a system that can do X using SuperDuperObjectProtocol and then another one doing Y which uses EvenBetterDifferentObjectProtocol - doing X+Y is a project that could take months if not years. If they both input and output some common easy format - like text or JSON or CSV - I can likely hooks them up in a lazy afternoon. It's not the question of processing power - all the super-comupters in the world would not make the task of hooking up SuperDuperObjectProtocol with EvenBetterDifferentObjectProtocol easier. It's the question of complexity, which always appears on the edges of domains.


I think that falling back to the lowest common denominator is an immense cause of complexity in software, and holds us back back. I think we'd be much better off if we didn't optimise for "person who wants to write a CLI in haskell who is using an 18 year old version of bash that only runs on Plan9"




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