Your comment is long on hyperbole, short on reasoning. What, specifically, is wrong with a textual representation? What alternatives do you suggest?
People have tried more sophisticated representations than text before. In my experience, they offer little benefit, while throwing away a rich ecosystem of tools that work with text. It seems to me the most promising advancements have been in tools that work intelligently on top of simple text files, rather than trying to replace them.
Yeah, it was a bit troll-y, I know. But sometimes the Diogenes in me comes out and really, we all need to be slapped in the face and asked, "This? Is it? This is what we've done?" Hardware doubles every eighteen months. If it was a stock it would blow the markets away. Software is a T-Bill. It barely covers inflation. Shame on us for "having tried more sophisticated representations than text before" and then giving up when it didn't immediately pan out.
People have tried more sophisticated representations than text before. In my experience, they offer little benefit, while throwing away a rich ecosystem of tools that work with text. It seems to me the most promising advancements have been in tools that work intelligently on top of simple text files, rather than trying to replace them.