Wow that is one of the most unnecessarily fatalistic posts I've ever seen, Sean. Perhaps you could watch some Sponge Bob for a bit. ;-) I'll try to convince you that things aren't so bad, but to fully do so would require I bring you completely in the loop on SM's product strategies. Clearly I can't do that.

There are some people who have configuration problems. In comparison, there are a far larger (far larger) number of people with no problems at all. FYI, those add-on libraries built in other tech are failing for some people, too. No matter what tech you use, it will fail for some people. That is the nature of PC software. Whether its drivers, players, firewall, whatever, there is always something that gets in the way for some people. We would be having this conversation no matter what it was built in. It will be sorted out, and this conversation will become dust.

The technology was not chosen to satisfy geeks. You made that up. As I said in another thread, the technical decisions were driven by a set of requirements that are not public knowledge. Were I to share them with you, you would probably accept the decision. Instead you have no knowledge whatsoever about the requirements, and so you speculate about why it was made. Since the requirements are private knowledge, there isn't much I can say to get you to stand for the integrity of the decision.

All I can say is that assuming the worst of people is usually a mistake. Why is it so hard to surmise that the decision was made with a lot more information that you don't have? Why is it so easy to assume, instead, that the decision makers are simply in love with dangerous new technology, or that they are simply stupid?

You're making a gross mistake by associating the decisions with your parochial view of the requirements. Being able to imagine more complex motives and hidden opportunities is the hallmark of both grandmaster chess players and great product marketing people. Unless you are one of these, both can appear inscrutable, and in extreme cases, downright foolish. Ever watch a Grand Master chess player lose a few pieces, following a few moves later with an inescapable checkmate? But before the coup-de-grace, how does the tyro know that the GM is brilliant or a fool? Not knowing what the GM knows, the tyro sees only chaos, failure, and believes the GM is confused and lost. The tyro is wrong.

I don't get how a few people with config problems convinces you that the program is going into some weird little world.  I've already discussed this a lot. There are hundreds upon hundreds of people who have enormous runtimes and are quite happy with the new Library, perhaps with the caveat that they want bigger thumbnails. That last part is easily fixed. I already fixed it, but SM wants to test the modification and release it along with other fixes in SR1. So we lost a rook here, big deal, the checkmate is still coming and you haven't a clue what it is.

What do you mean about the fun being stripped away? Really, these statements are inexplicable to me.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)