[jacquesm]

That's right at the core of where I'm somewhat frustrated with modern computing. There are days when I feel like an ant walking on a map with no idea of the size of the map nor any overview of what is on it.

Limiting the scope of what you're seeing is no longer a luxury, it has become a necessity to get any work done but this tendency to want to understand everything is hard to get rid of and a huge time-sink.

Couple that with the speed with which formats, protocols and technologies are obsoleted and you end up with an even more frustrating situation.

I suspect the next level of major real progress will come from simplification or a total reboot.

[golergka]

That would be true in any big software project, and in any complicated system. Regardless of how many reboots will there be, systems that are simple enough for an ordinary developer to fully comprehend can not complete the tasks we want from them.