Will S88 improve - or should it?

Will ongoing developments of S88, specifically Parts 1 and 5, improve automation?
I am far from sure, in fact I think they will not.
I think it is arguable that even the original Part 1, for all the applause it has received, has actually had the effect of damaging the development of innovative automation products.
Why do I say that?
For a start, the ‘Procedural State Transition’ model given in the original Part 1 (which does not need updating imho) as an example is but one of many possible alternatives, and certainly not the ‘best’. And it may well have constrained product evolution. There are plenty of other similar issues, not least the handling of common resources that the same could apply to.
And now, in the Part 1 update and Part 5 the standards committee is further limiting opportunities for designers to come up with something much better, by refining that which did not need refining.
Standards have their place, we would hardly be able to function without standards such as the metric one for measuring, but S88 is not in that domain at all, there is no science behind it yet, and no sign of one emerging.