Just a couple of points.
1.
Direct entry commands have been around for at least the last forty years, to my knowledge. Within expanding airlines the need to get the show on the road at minimum cost and training time and without diluting experience levels too much is paramount. An airline can only afford to have a small percentage of its captains as new captains. In stable, non or slowly expanding airlines this is achieved by the normal attrition process of retirement and resignations. New captains naturally require more supervision and monitoring whilst they absorb the transition from LHS to RHS and there is only a set amount of time and resources available for this. To ensure that these resources are not overstretched DECs are employed in the hope that once on line they can be left to get on with the job, fall back on their previous experience when required and leave available training resources to concentrate on turning out a good command product from suitably qualified F/Os.
2.
The requirements for promotion to command, (let us not forget, it is a promotion, not a God given right), are, usually:
Correct licence, sufficient appropriate hours and suitability!.
Suitability comprises a whole tranche of things. Attitude, maturity, command ability, assertivness, CRM, company loyalty, the ability to be a company ambassador down route at all times but particularly when things go seriously wrong, the ability to command a crew, a degree of commercial awareness and the ability to know when to differentiate between operational, safety and commercial requirements and allocate priorities accordingly, the ability to have and retain the appropriate respect from all around you, etc. etc. The list is quite long and whilst many can satisfy the licence and appropriate hours requirements many fall down on suitability, as measured by your current employer, not your last one.
I have seen potential captains with excellent quality experience come unstuck not in the simulator but during line training when the suitability factor comes into the equation big time.
Reading some of the posts on this thread I am bound to wonder if one or two people are so wound up in seniority issues that they have lost sight of the big picture.