Nice write-up of this position, Erik. I'm of the same persuasion.

I've seen the same thing in the R world, between different dialects. I even wrote a piece comparing one approach (the “tidyverse”) to a kitchen full of gadgets — v. using a chef knife (data.table).

I also saw something similar when I worked in graphic design. There were tool people, who loved add-ons for Photoshop that would save them 10 seconds each, but cost them 2 hours to update and implement in total; versus the people who would just wing it with the tools included, and not worry.

There are some interesting implications for teaching / learning languages too. I think the simplicity approach is far better -- you can learn concepts then, and not baroque tools that you might never need in your particular career.