Git could definitely have a simpler interface, but massively simplifying the mental burden would ultimately involve reducing its power as a tool. A significant

Git could definitely have a simpler interface, but massively simplifying the mental burden would ultimately involve reducing its power as a tool. A significant part of the appeal is that the power users and the novices can both agree on the same tool and make it work for their needs. There's a huge "aftermarket" of frontends and scripts to simplify the experience in the way you want. Some of them, like jujutsu [0] are basically entirely new VCSs built on top of git (and influenced by mercurial). I didn't mind mercurial, but I think it's telling that even the tech behemoths championing it like Google and Facebook forked off into their own tools (fig/sapling). The latter even supports git directly. That battle is long over. [0] https://github.com/martinvonz/jj https://github.com/martinvonz/jj