We can't put each possible thing in Mach that everyone could possibly want.  Heck, we can't even dream them all up!  But what we did try to do with Mach 4 is give users a tool set that they can use to modify or make the system work as they please. 

Now, I'm going to get a bit nerdy here, but Mach 4 borrows heavily on one of the greatest tool sets that mankind has ever invented.  And that tool set is the UNIX operating system.  If you have ever played with UNIX, or a clone thereof, you will know that it has a lot of little low level executable files (commands) that each do one particular thing really well.  One can accomplish almost anything by combining these commands (sed grep cat, etc..) to do a task that is not otherwise provided by the base operating system.  So Mach 4 is very similar in that regard. 

One thing we learned with Mach 3 is you can try to put the Kitchen sink in there but it gets REALLY hard to maintain.  Sooner or later, a more fundamental change will come along and break the Kitchen sink functionality and we end up with a bunch of dirty dishes.    I review the feature request thread quite often and honestly, there are a lot of Kitchen sinks in there.  Not that they are bad ideas at all.  Just most of them can be accomplished already!  I know people are just breaking the surface of what can be done with Mach 4.  It takes time for the knowledge base to grow.  But in time, it will become second nature and the line between what can be accomplished with the tool set and what actually needs to become a new tool will get clearer. 

Steve

Steve, thanks for that explanation.  Really insightful.  I do love Mach 4, and I'm excited to see what people can do with it in the future.  In my experience, there is a lot more setting up on Mach 4 than Mach 3 but the end result is sooo much better.  Thanks for all the work you guys do!!