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The technical problem is you can’t effect worthwhile improvements in the terminal without also fixing the fundamental flaws below it: a huge mess of bloated, inconsistent, poorly-introspectable command executables, with only untagged, untyped “dumb” pipes to connect them together in the most laborious, unsafe way possible. The logistical problem is, well… see all the other comments from those who don’t want it to change, whether through laziness, apathy, turf protection, or whatever. Next to the People Problem, the technical problem is the easy part to solve. Incidentally, here’s what a good 1980s CLI looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4-YnLpLgtk Whereas the nix craphouse we’re now stuck with isn’t even a good 1970s* CLI. Honestly, at this point I wouldn’t even bother trying incremental improvement. The *nix CLI does what it was built to do, and that’s all. When substantive change does come to text UIs it will be as revolution, not evolution. Draw a line under it. Learn its lessons, both the DOs and DON’Ts. Then whiteboard from the ground-up what needs to come next. Work out where UI/UX needs to be in 2040 to effectively serve the billions of users of the generations to come, and make a start on building that. Dash ahead of history for a change, not be shackled and dragged back by it. As old, traditional divisions between text, voice, and touch interaction become increasingly frustrating impediments in modern mass-market devices, there’s a killing to be made in smashing down all those old artificial barriers and replacing them all a single unified interaction model that can transition seamlessly between all three modes as its users’ needs and wishes direct. |