GNU didn't originate from a unix mindset. You should know this.
I do and oh-how-right you are. What I have major difficulty with is comprehending why people like it, and why they tolerate Stallman's nonsense when there are alternatives. The "rip it all out because it's not ours and re-invent everything just because" attitude is so fundamentale broken.
As somebody who does tolerate Stallman's nonsense, I can tell you why: It's because some of his software is really good. Like Emacs. I'm willing to bet that you're a VI user, but for us Emacs users, there really is no substitute. And if you want a Scheme package, Guile is a really good one (although it's not as efficient as some of the compiled schemes): Andy is doing a great job with it.
There are other examples, like tar (I know you would disagree, but dammit, GNU tar is so useful). When there isn't, or Stallman deliberately cripples his software, there are usually alternatives (clang, etc.) which we use, unless "we" are FSF people. Which most of us aren't.
Yes, his attitude is somewhat broken, although I understand why it exists. Also, he's not quite as NIH as you seem to think: There are several cases where he advocates use of software that isn't his own (heck, he advocates clang, or at least has no problem with it).
Also, I have no objection to long options, or to utilities that are a little bit richer (just so long as they still interoperate, and you can still use the standard options, which is usually the case).
And you'd win that bet. Not even a vim user (except on Amiga), but straight vi. Why? Because vi was always there when I needed a text editor, and by learning vi, I automatically learned ed, sed, and ex. All of a sudden, I could write multi line sed programs.
Hey, I get it. I've always have the sneaking suspicion that VI users are way more productive at actually editing. But I know for a fact that they don't have the extensions that make editing dynamic languages (especially lisp) in Emacs so efficient. And there's no use learning another editor just to write C: What do you think I am, and IDE user?
I do and oh-how-right you are. What I have major difficulty with is comprehending why people like it, and why they tolerate Stallman's nonsense when there are alternatives. The "rip it all out because it's not ours and re-invent everything just because" attitude is so fundamentale broken.