I'm not whining about complexity. I'm just thinking that it would be nice
to get away from NMEA.

Why?

As I said in the original post that if an open
standard were created it would eliminate un-nesessary costs.

Based on what do you make that claim?

Manufacturers
and hobbiest alike would benefit.

How? There aren't enough numbers to justify it.

Open standards has worked well for the
internet for years and this could be applied here as well.

You naively equate what works for BILLIONS of devices, across hundreds (if
not thousands) of markets with the SIGNIFICANTLY smaller marine market.
There's just no comparison.

I'm not
lamenting anything... I'm just trying to get people thinking about moving
forward, taking some control, and maybe just maybe benefiting mankind in
some sort of way :-)

Oh please, spare me the ill-informed naive sentimentality. Back it up with
a sound argument and facts, not fluff.