In reply to Lee Shadle.

The barrier to entry is why I do not think we will or should move that direction. Burdening first-time theme authors with learning how JSON works as opposed to basic HTML, which they will likely already be familiar with, would mean that only more advanced developers would be building themes. WordPress has always had a low barrier to getting into theme development. It has long been a part of its recipe for success. I'm not sure if moving away from that would be beneficial for the project.

Now, if the suggestion is that we move 100% into visual theme building and away from hand-coding them, that may change.