One of the guiding lights of the UNIX utilities or software tools has been the deeply-felt conviction that text should be stored in as simple, as general a format as possible so that any program can easily process it. This idea (it seems to have been present from the beginning) has had the widest impact possible on UNIX in all its varieties. However, there has been a regrettable tendency to move away from it in recent times, especially among commercial software developers. — UNIX Evolution: 1975-1984