[tatx]

There is nothing inherently wrong with complexity. Complex things can be made to appear simple, usable and open too. It is just that, when it comes to software, we haven’t yet figured out a way of building complex systems that are beautiful (in a very broad sense of the term). Whenever we try to create anything complex in software it inevitably turns into a mess.

Also software engineering sounds unglamorous today and research in the field seems to have stalled. And therefore the craving for the simplicity of the Unix philosophy. Not that the Unix way of working actually solves the problems posed by software complexity, it just asks us to avoid complexity.