But that's the point. Why X? Maybe I don't like X. Maybe s-expressions, paredit and all that lisp stuff makes me upset. XML isn't a programming language either,

But that's the point. Why X? Maybe I don't like X. Maybe s-expressions, paredit and all that lisp stuff makes me upset. XML isn't a programming language either, we're going the DSL route again. Maybe I like, I don't know, cobol. What if I feel happy with my non-DSL DSL being cobol? Would people like it? Or maybe, really, the dedicated DSL is a better approach? To give people, at least, some handlebars, a lowest common denominator, if you wish. The point is, no matter what language is selected, someone is always going to be unhappy about the choice. Look at Chef, great technology, IMO. Gives all the power of Ruby. One can do totally whatever they want. Yet people were not happy with it. Alternatives came out, people started reinventing stuff all over again. But even with those, one can use whatever language they want to automate these tools even further. All these DSLs are just helpers, a starting point, make the initial adoption easy. I think people are looking at this aspect from a wrong perspective. "Is my time worth learning this new DSL / am I compensated enough to make it worth learning". It does not matter, as long as it all calculates.