If you're tempted to argue against this by pointing out that very simple tools can make irrelevant the change to a non-textual protocol -- then you are, I suspe

If you're tempted to argue against this by pointing out that very simple tools can make irrelevant the change to a non-textual protocol -- then you are, I suspect, missing the point. There's a real psychological difference between debugging something that is, at bottom, human-readable versus one that isn't. I'm willing to concede that it isn't really that big of a difference. For the sake of argument I'm even willing to concede that it's largely illusory -- because that doesn't matter. Who cares how irrational it may be? If it's that prevalent in the human psyche, you're just better off not fighting it. Like scripting languages, a text-based protocol doesn't just make it easier for you to get your hands dirty: it practically begs you to. The value of that sort of encouragement to the adoption of a global standard should not be underestimated.