[mannykannot]

You are right about the timing. I believe the fragmentation started at Berkeley, and was greatly expanded by the mini-computer manufacturers. Ironically, far from this being a consequence of AT&T attempting to commercialize Unix, it followed from AT&T not being allowed to do so (there is another irony in Kamp being a BSD user.)

And while I thoroughly dislike having anything to do with autoconf and its relatives, I have to admit the need for something like it, on account of decisions beyond the control of the FOSS community and the contingencies of history. Even the choice of m4 may have seemed more reasonable at the time, given fewer alternatives (though there was Perl, and perhaps TCL, to choose from.)

While Kamp's description of the current situation seems accurate, his attribution of blame does not, and his lament that things could have been so much better is influenced by his somewhat inaccurate hindsight.