What the author is describing is the "idealist" camp's perspective, as Prophet Joel wrote thus eons ago: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html htt

What the author is describing is the "idealist" camp's perspective, as Prophet Joel wrote thus eons ago: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html x86 has always been a demonstration of how pragmatism can beat idealism. If they'd been sidetracked by idealistic "make it pretty" thinking long ago, maybe someone else would have won the PC processor war. There is a place for both types of thinking. Rather than fighting blindly for one camp, we should know when both are appropriate. Sometimes you're changing major versions and can afford to break compatibility. Sometimes you need to swallow it and leave the ugliness there.