[lnanek]

How is breaking backward compatibility simpler? If you don't support legacy commands and options you are forcing countless programs to be rewritten. Many aren't even actively maintained any more and businesses will avoid upgrading to your new 'simple' platform due to the huge cost, complexity, and risk of the rewrite project not succeeding, like many software projects. That's why OpenGL has so many old methods and commands, they are used by old, expensive CAD programs.

Speaking of OpenGL, more efficient memory routines he claims are worthless have probably saved me months of optimization programming real time games. If you don't have sufficient frame rate there for a good experience you end up doing enormous optimization work.