I think we have enough formats that fit the requirement of serializing data structures, no need for a new one (xkcd ref goes here). You still need to be able to

I think we have enough formats that fit the requirement of serializing data structures, no need for a new one (xkcd ref goes here). You still need to be able to tell the other tool what to do with that data though. In essence instead of a series of greps and seds and awk you need a bunch of options for the next tool in the chain to tell it how to treat your serialized object. That's merely shifting the complexity around. Also there is no need really to change anything (as in, breaking existing scripts). Selecting a different output format can simply be a command line option. Many tools already offer Json, XML or CSV output. But since development of those tools is so decentralized you'd be hard pressed getting them all to agree on one. But theoretically you can pick any tool you want right now, add --json support and submit a patch.