[chad_walters]

Full disclosure: I did some work on Thrift in 2007-2008.

I read the blog post you linked and I don't see any real evidence that their choice of Thrift was "grudging". They did say that there are differing requirements that might lead to others to make a different choice -- but AFAICT there is no indication in the article that they regret their choice.

WRT IDLs: YMMV of course, but the post you linked provides the following reasons why an IDL might be a good idea: "A more formal IDL and native code generation may help provide better long-term client stability, so the initial Thrift overhead for developers might be justified for some services that are concerned about client stability and longevity."