I can't agree with the conclusion when he does not even try to guess at the reasons for status quo, only the offhand remark "computer people are conservative".

I can't agree with the conclusion when he does not even try to guess at the reasons for status quo, only the offhand remark "computer people are conservative". Perhaps the text with limited alphabet and fixed-width display is actually optimum both for programmers' mental workload and for computer processing? Why the urge to abandon it? Many many people tried to "move on" but there's always some catch. I like DRAKON graphical programming editor but it makes diffing harder and merging changes from outside impossible.