I don't get the logic...

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After seeing that Monad will not be a part of Longhorn, http://p102.news.scd.yahoo.com/s/zd/20050609/tc_zd/153779, it seems there isn't much left that will be really new and exciting in that release. That is all fine and well and on some level expected, but the one thing I do not get is this

"We are changing the command line environment in Windows using a new object-oriented command line technology, code-named 'Monad,' that will exceed what has been delivered in Linux and Unix for many years," said Muglia in the interview. "It (Monad) will take three to five years to fully develop and deliver."

Now, this makes several assumptions. One is that Monad will in fact deliver on what it is promising. Two is that the shells for Linux and Unix will be standing still over the next five years. Three is that I don't understand how something that is not available will blow away stuff which you can get today and that has a very proven track record.

As an aside, one can use perl, python or a variety of other 'shells' for Windows. I don't see how Monad will get you any further than these solutions. If the big deal is that it is object oriented and can plug into native windows API's and such, well, I can almost do all this already with VBScript. With a python based shell using the win32all package I CAN do this already.

Heck, there is a python cookbook recipe that would give you the basics of monad without all the fanfare. It could use some polish, but hey, at least this is available today :-)

http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/279407/index_txt

- Mike