Exactly. The Unix/Linux world has not gone the way of a Powershell type shell for the simple reason that for the uses where we want an object-oriented API, we have a plethora of scripting languages designed for that purpose, and we all have our own favourites.

When we want a text oriented API we use shell scripts. When we want an object oriented API we pick our favourite scripting language - which may very well for many of us be different for different problem domains.

Yes, precisely. The main thing would be to do is to define the stream format, and then persuade people to actually use it.

The point of the exercise is that the traditional Unix pipelinable commands have standardised on unstructured textual data. Powershell has standardised on structured tabular data, which is what lets you do the cool things.