[dahjelle]

Though I haven't done any Linux programming, I can definitely see your point. A abstraction seems only as useful as it is consistent.

You're right: HyperCard and Excel aren't a small set of interoperable tools like UNIX is. I would argue, though, that they are close: a walled garden of interoperable tools. Rather than guide you through steps to a specific end (the extreme example is a wizard for, say, a mail merge), they present you with tools you can use to get to that end. Obviously, they don't work particularly well outside their garden, and the great advantage of adding tools to your toolset is cumbersome at best.

I do wish I understood the UNIX philosophy better. Perhaps I'll learn more over time.