It would still need to lug the heat shield up and down from the lunar surface but it means no transferring of crew and perhaps a straight shot from Moon to LEO (no stops) in a medical emergency.

Stopping at the L-points or low lunar orbit to transfer crew does not significantly add to the transit time from the Moon to the Earth. There are significant mass penalties to lug the Earth-return heat shield down to the lunar surface and back.

what about humans not having their own landers but traveling on the same craft that had transported cargo

No problem in principle — it just decreases your possible landed payload on the Moon. It’s not simply the mass of the crew — it’s also their necessary life support systems that reduce the useable payload.

Also, what about humans not having their own landers but traveling on the same craft that had transported cargo (automated landing but the astronauts could take over in a pinch)?

Also, it would mean one less vehicle to develop and test.

It would certainly provide a “hell of a view to boot” but it would also create a number of interesting problems when the time came to transfer the crew to the (presumably) pressurized orbiting vehicle. Since the crew would have to be wearing EVA Suits:
– How would the open cabin lander be secured to the orbiting vehicle?
– Would the crew be on umbilical or be using Portable Life Support Systems (PLSS).
– If the orbiting vehicle is designed anything like the Orion (or any of the commercial crew vehicles) the only access hatches will not allow the surface area for transfer.
– If umbilicals were to be used a fairly complicated choreography of mating/demating umbilicals would be required (I worked on this for Constellation Systems – as an emergency procedure if they could not get a good pressure seal between the two vehicles) and that is not something anyone would want to do on a routine basis.

I am really beginning to like the Gilruith idea of the open cockpit lander which would further reduce the requirements and result in a system with a hell of a view to boot!

Yes and I am aware of and will attest to that. I met many good, competent people within the agency that were excited about the VSE and worked their butts off to see it accomplished. But there were also many in middle management who actively worked against it from the beginning. I am trying here to relate the story from my own perspective. I know that others will see some things differently, but I wanted to record some of these lesser known events before they get lost forever. Thanks for reading it and for your supportive comments.