> 1) libraries, so anyone can make a program off them. 2) command line tools, which use the libraries to achieve specific goals. 3) GUI tools, which use the lib

> 1) libraries, so anyone can make a program off them. 2) command line tools, which use the libraries to achieve specific goals. 3) GUI tools, which use the libraries or tools to show a nice graphical representation to the user. I often wonder if this entire notion of a 'program' is not useful. What people really want, I think, are components. Give people components and they can wrap CLIs around them if they want. Give people components and they can drop them into GUI workspaces if they want. Microsoft COM may be pure unmitigated evil... but the vision, the dream, was on the right track. This thing that happens today where developers throw big, monolithic programs at users doesn't really make anybody happy.