Go for it, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words... Nah, I have a pretty big ego, just go for it.

I think good API design is important, I'm not the only one who thinks so (yes, I would also jump from the bridge if my friends jumped from it. Because I would no longer have friends anymore). The problem is, arbitrary API design is going to bite you and your users in the ass at some point, and statements like "what if Anet changed from handles to pointers", simply shows that the one who made that statement has no idea of API design.

Not to mention that shims in general are just asking for trouble. There are a million out there, and the older they get the more broken they become. Look at the _stat() function in the Windows POSIX shim, it's broken beyond recognition because Windows ACL system just doesn't fit on top of the unix groups and user ideology. You are going for lowest denominator here, is that really desirable?

I'm sorry for saying that directly, but what do you want me to do? Pretend like it's super awesome and like baked awesomeness, "but..."? I wrote, and still do, awful code too, and if people didn't tell me, I would never learn.