The non DAZ figures are no good, because they are poorly made.
Yes.  I didn't want to be that blunt, but that is a major problem.  I am not going to speculate on what degree that has affected Dawn/Roxie/Rex vs the former having separate Daz and Poser versions and the latter being Poser-exclusive.  From the promo shots I have seen (not that Content Paradise promos are the greatest example of what a figure can and can't do), Roxie and Rex have some serious bend issues, and someone mentioned that they use a single texture for all body parts, which explains why their skin looks so low res.
While SM deserves no sympathy or defense for dropping the ball in the last 3 years in general, I am pretty sure I recall one of their reasons in the now-defunct CP forums for placing all the blame on DAZ, is that they were uncomfortable with Tri-ax being proprietary.  I don't know enough about IP rights and law to do anything more than speculate on what that would mean.  However, if SM couldn't figure out how to translate Tri-ax into Poser completely from the ground-up, then they would be incredibly restricted on how and where they could sell the product (I'm guessing they could only sell it on DAZ3D, which means that it would have to be an add-on rather than built into Poser ver. X)
Though I think I just remembered that they complained that DAZ shouldn't have found some way to make Poser weight-mapping work natively in DAZ instead of coming up with Tri-ax.  I have no idea if Poser weight-mapping is proprietary or not, or if it is, what its rules are.  (I know that there is a free weight-mapped version of Antonia)

Why does KFC keep their recipe a secret?
Apples to oranges.  3rd party cooks don't create "add-ons" for KFC's chicken, LOL.

Freebies, static? I downloaded so many freebies from DAZ 3D in the past three months to have lost count. I don't think I'll ever use most of that stuff, but I still grabbed it. How is that static?
I think you misunderstood.  They come out with new freebies every week, in addition to some that have been free for years (static) such as Emotiguy, and static ones which have been free for 1 year, such as Dagger Dreams and V4/M4 Basicwear.  Something more recent, are "weekly freebies", which often times are more like bimonthly or monthly.
My fear is that they will accept the industry standard a la Turbosquid and CGTrader which is to only provide static freebies.

And about "industry standard" prices? I have purchased a ton of stuff at between 60% to 80% off, and this includes Genesis 2 stuff, and I am not even in their PC membership program.
Yes, FOR NOW.  But it's only a matter of time before DAZ makes an announcement saying "We have been vastly successful with the industry standard over x years, and it is more profitable.  That is why we plan to slowly phase out hobbyist standards and prices over the next year/2 years.  We will still provide PC+ membership benefits, but these, too, will change to the industry standard.  Instead of products in a permanent PC+ category, we plan to shuffle PC+ prices around for most DAZ originals.  We will have occasional special holiday and seasonal sales when certain items are on sale for PC prices, which will be anywhere from 40 to 75% off"  Along with a bunch of prose as to why this is somehow more awesome.

Well unless the wheels fall of the cart or there is a quantum leap there is no reason not to expect the "industry standard" to not remain what is in common use in the CG industry.... which is what makes it a standard not because someone adopts it.
How many times have I heard that about something or other, only for the speaker/company to pull a 180 a year or 3 down the line?  Fact: nobody, and I mean NOBODY-- keeps their promises.  FACT: DAZ's disclaimers, ToU, etc. are pretty lengthy and explicit about how they can change anything and everything at a whim.

The solution is simple for you, spend a little time make a product submit to Daz, sign the necessary paperwork and you can access the HD tools with the same usage rights as any PA. Might take you a few days to get it sorted.
Perhaps someone does not WANT to become a DAZ PA.  Certainly that appears to be the case for plenty of PAs on Renderosity.  Other PAs, such as DInoraul and Boundless, are former DAZ PAs who decided to up and leave.  Dinoraul still has a store both here and at Content Paradise (though I have no idea if the latter is voluntary, due to CP being partially broken)