[crazyhatfish]

I don't think direct access to USB devices like your suggesting is a good step forward if for nothing other than practicalities. Think about how many individual USB light sensors your websites would have to support to enable this small feature and the amount of low-level code in such a high-level language. Abstractly thats a great idea but could as easily be added with an addon or browser extension.

[sillysaurus3]

Actually, it's not a small feature. It's a feature that seems small until you experience it firsthand, similar to the Apple II.

Beyond that, I don't understand any of the other objections. Low level code in a high level language is one definition of power.

[crazyhatfish]

Have you experienced it? If so, where can I?

I'm not saying its a bad idea, just that this direct path in implementation is.

There are many other (better) ways of implementing it, like the Mozilla light sensor API. If that doesn't satisfy you, you should create a new spec for light sensors combined with a practical implementation and then push W3C to use your spec over Mozilla's.