Windows Powershell attempts to do what you're describing. PowerShell doesn't manipulate text streams, it manipulates .Net CLR objects. That allows shell programs to expose data in a much more meaningful way. You don't have to have a parser in every program that interacts with the shell when you can send and receive typed data.

I haven't worked much with it lately, but I wouldn't be surprised if Powershell was the closest existing technology to what the author is thinking of.