[zmoney]

>Certainly, the learning curve is much steep for Unix > utilities than, say, Python.

Now what makes you think that? UNIX shell tools have a very consistent interface which is really pretty simple (pipes in, pipes out,) they are well documented, and they're interactive and easy to play around with no zero setup.

Also, the UNIX shell has been around for 30 years now and isn't going anywhere. So what's the best investment? Python will change more in the next five years.