I think it is a question of efficiency, right? If some external middleware can provide more value in some columns than it offsets in other columns, it is usually a good bet. We're all just raising the bar for abstraction: first it was higher level languages, then it was libraries, then it was frameworks, and now we're talking about middleware (I might be missing a handful of steps in there).

Sometimes middleware isn't the answer, but sometimes it speeds things up so much that it is rather "cut off your nose to spite your face" to ignore it. The argument certainly doesn't apply only to middleware, of course. The same for the counter-arguments. So...

> Is it a good idea to build things without middleware?

Yes, and no. It depends. :-)