Well "mastering [that] careless design" has made me farore capable than many of my peers at tasks that involve debugging network problems. I can slice and dice data files with ease and much more speed than any of my associates because the power the shell brings, I have gained a much deeper understanding of how am OS and computing works, what is going on under the hood, and consequently have reaped many advantages due to many hours spent mastering the shell.

You are right it has some warts, but if a file is really that absolutely critical I make a .bak copy of it before I start my work. The shell has its limitations but so do all tools and the power it gives me is unmatched.

As for other popular software there is plenty out there but other popular software out there destroys something far more valuable to me. My time.