I agree on several of your points. CPAN is kind of meh right now, since Python/Ruby/node.js are quickly catching up (or have passed it, even). You can quite easily find libraries existing in other languages and not in CPAN.
For me it now boils down to: sunk cost (if you're already familiar with Perl, it makes sense to keep doing it in Perl) and some features that Perl currently really excels at (variable scoping, regex integration, Unicode).
Ok, httpie is prettier and has some syntax shortcuts, but it doesn't even do a fraction of what curl or wget does. No recursive downloads, no simulating diferent HTTP protocol version, no SSL options, no even retry options! #fail
The winner will be ICANN who laughs all the way to the bank with hundreds of new gTLD registration fees (equalling tens of millions of US$). The losers will most probably be companies like uniregistry.com (or, more specifically, their investors) who will register tens of new gTLDs and later find out that they are not worth as much.
Probably because FB is not a bank, and there are strict regulations in most countries for companies that store people's money like banks. Paypal is not a bank either, but I'd guess storing credits is still easier regulation-wise.
Yahoo! never cared for Linux users. Remember the Linux version of Yahoo! Messenger? It lagged behind the Windows version so much before being quietly removed. Coincidentally, I never care much for Yahoo! anymore.
Single window, ok cool. But after ages, still no tool to draw some boxes and circles? This is proof that Gimp's goal is not designer's productivity. Pass.
The lack of libwget does frustate me sometimes; I have to use wget strictly via command-line. curl also has some nice features lacking in wget: selecting HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1, support for multiple SSL libraries, etc. But wget surely has many features that curl doesn't have.
Thanks! Although over time I've also come to accept that I will never be near as fast as the natives (or people who learn to read from when they were a child).
Off topic: I started learning Chinese a few years ago when I was already an adult, and my Chinese reading speed is still stuck below 150 WPM, while my English, also non-native language, is around 500 WPM. Any tip to increase it? Recently tried flash reading exercises like the aforementioned spreeder.com, seems to help a bit.
For me it now boils down to: sunk cost (if you're already familiar with Perl, it makes sense to keep doing it in Perl) and some features that Perl currently really excels at (variable scoping, regex integration, Unicode).