That's what I'd like to see, is to add a "--xml" or "--json" flags to any common command (such as ps, ls, grep, find, ...). And have appropriate handling in the shell for xml or json output.
% ls --libxo json
{"__version": "1", "file-information": {"directory":[{"entry": [{"name":"bar"}, {"name":"foo"}]}]}
}
% ls --libxo xml
<file-information __version="1"><directory><entry><name>bar</name></entry><entry><name>foo</name></entry></directory></file-information>