> But very few actually want to put on the enormous amount of work needed to improve YAML or create a new language.

No need to create a new language: S-expressions have existed for longer than I’ve been alive.

> IMO if there was something that was substantially better, we would see projects switching to it in a heartbeat.

I disagree. Path-dependence is a real issue, as are local maxima.

> the effort to make any kind of switch so you can shorten Norway

It’s not so that one can shorten Norway; it’s to avoid silent errors (like the Excel-gene issue). Fortunately, this particular bug no longer exists in the current YAML spec.