* C++ circa 2000 (before mainline g++ could handle Alexandrescuisms) is significantly different from C++ circa 2010, albeit in ways that probably upset Shaw even more (the more central role boost has taken, the more "expressive" templates have gotten, don't call me on any of this stuff).
* C++ std::string is an abomination, but you can always just do what I've done and what lots of other C++ programmers whose code I've read have done: just use char* and a simple string library (or a custom string class).
* Ditto for stream IO, which is a huge C++ misfeature but which is also pretty much irrelevant (I know of no part of the standard C++ library outside of things that explicitly support stream I/O that rely on you using it).
* I don't get the POSIX argument at all; just call the POSIX functions, they work fine. Nobody mandates that you use (say) ACE_wrappers to do systems programming.
* const-correctness may be another misfeature (I know I make fun of it), but the point isn't hard to see: if you take the time to const-correct your code, the compiler will spit out errors that would have otherwise been runtime faults.