I think the current state of the creating software can certainly be complex but it is so mostly out of necessity and not necessarily bad design. It can also be

I think the current state of the creating software can certainly be complex but it is so mostly out of necessity and not necessarily bad design. It can also be very simple for simple things and that shouldn't be overlooked or dismissed when we look at the state of the art. I also think that to conclude "The HTML/CSS/JS stack is a mess" one is really complaining that they want to do something it's not designed to do or doesn't have some specific functionalities they want or need, which is not at all the same as being a "mess". "Are there visions for an entirely reimagined OS, web, programming, etc, that are interesting to you?" Well, for me, yes. But we have to look at it with a long term perspective to see it. My first web app (an invoicing app) was made with perl using CGI.pm and HTML. Later I added CSS, then a bit of Javascript to manipulate the UI with Prototype.js and it's fair to say that for me, Prototype.js allowed me to reimagine how to build the app. It allowed me to take multiple forms and "hide/show" them instead of sending user data to the server, saving it, and sending another form for them to continue on with the process of making an invoice. That process was reimagined again when I saw how AJAX worked. And again when I first learned about "Document Databases". I didn't like the way SQL stored data for creating invoices so I never used it on my app. I used CGI.pm's "Save" feature to store data in a "name=value" format. When "NoSQL" databases, or "Document Databases", came out that were designed specifically for web apps I was pretty amazed because I thought I was the only one who thought SQL was a really crappy way to store document data and the few times I'd mentioned that on the perl mailing lists I got torched by most who responded. Currently, I think it's probably fair to say that React.js "reimagines" how we approach building web apps. Finally, when it comes down to the bit level processing going on in an OS I don't have a frigging clue and I know that, so no, I don't know of any better way. I am still in awe and constantly amazed and don't expect to ever not be.