I think it would be neat to see Krita added to the list. I'm finding it a pretty neat paint program, but it's definitely different when compared to PhotoShop or GIMP. It's more in the same category of Painter, Sai, or Sketch.

Split the edges around each door to separate them from the mesh, then make the doors separate objects.

It's neat. Yet not to be confused with a traditional knotwork trefoil... Which can then be woven into itself like a Sierpinski triangle and then connecting those into a star form, if you're crazy enough...

https://www.shapeways.com/product/F24JAEV25/knotwork-sierpinski-star-pendant

Let's just say I got very familiar with the Bezier path tool.

There you go. As for the red arrow? Just showing what you have to click for world settings rather than object in the compositor. (But I think most would know that by now.)

It's possible to link and/or append mats from various .blend files. But at this moment there's still no way to browse it. (In the visual sense. So you're either relying on memory or guessing by the name.) Supposedly there is an add-on being worked upon to do that kind of thing and allow you to have a proper library, but I don't recall the exact name. (Still very early in development last I heard.)

Just need to UV that thing and slap some textures on. Mesh itself doesn't need to be much fancier at this point. But it does look like a plastic kit model that hasn't even been touched with a paintbrush. Yeah, I know getting around to texturing is the hardest part for me too. Good news is that programs like Blender make it fairly easy, as you can paint right on the model instead of guessing what every bit on the map template is. (But when UV'ing making "human readable" maps when possible is still considered good practice.)

Instead of using an image plane with emission, it's also possible to have an image as the world background. I may have to show the alternate method's shader node setup, as it's not the most intuitive thing at first. (Would get warped oddly with the default texture space, and some other things too.) Thing about the world lighting is that it comes in from "infinite space", so it may effect the scene a little differently.

Well, it is true Blender has been playing catch-up to other software. (Not just the one's mentioned.) More or less developers cherry-picking certain features and ideas mentioned by users and finding ways of implementing them. They may do the same kind of things as other software, but it doesn't mean they're implemented or coded in the same way.

But I have this feeling Blender wont be playing catch-up for long. It's a pretty solid and unique program in it's own right. Which is likely a good thing for us users, but perhaps should have other software makers worried. Some things like retopo stuff being developed already looks better than what's available as a stand-alone or as part of some other software. (Albeit the plug-in for Blender that does it is being commercially developed.) There are also other things relating to animation where once the kinks are worked out should make this FOSS more than competitive.

Since free sets the baseline, some of those companies that we're familiar with in CG will be hitting that "limbo-bar" in terms of development cost vs. what they can do with thier software. I wonder if some of the companies more focused on content will eventually turn to developing plug-ins rather than trying to maintain their own particular in-house rendering software.

General interface usage - selecting or finding things quickly

The commands for Select All (A), Box Select (B), Paint Selection (C), and Center to Selection (Numpad .), aren't just good for 3D window or 3D editing. They may also work in various menus and screens in Blender. So if you want to select a lot of files for an image sequence you can box select them, likewise if you want to quickly find where your selected mesh is in the outliner, then hover your mouse over the window and use center to selection.

There may be some other selection related hotkeys, but these are definitely handy to start out with.

Running it out of the folder that comes in the .zip download is how I use it now. I keep two or three versions around in case anything breaks in one of the updates. But I also like to check out the new stuff as it comes along. No problems running it that way, although sometimes I have to manually copy prefs or copy over certain add-ons/plugins to multiple blender version folders when I find I'm missing something.

Instead of clicking on each line, you can also box select with B, or select/deselect all with A. Other than that, as Keppel said above. Copy and paste via the clipboard.

Here's a quick tip. Probably well known, but going to try anyways.

Holding down control during a move/rotate/scale operation temporarily toggles snapping. (Typically controlled by the magnet icon.) And this snapping also works along with XYZ constraints during those operations. So if you have snapping set to nearest face instead of the starting grid setting, you could snap something like a glass onto the top surface of a table while moving it along the Z-axis. Likewise if you have snapping toggled on by the magnet, pressing control temporarily gives you free movement.

Speaking of managing stuff in a pipeline fashion... I saw in 2.74 notes something about saving previews for some assets in a .blend file. I'm assuming in the future we'll be able to see those images when browsing with the append/link option. Much better than only being able to go off of names as it is now. (Hopefully we'll even be able to add text descriptors too.) Which means you can make .blend files more easily usable as asset libraries if you plan in advance.

Neat process. Coming from Wings3D, I remember ggAliens having some plugin that could do geometry like this in a generated manner. Manifold labs stuff. :) On the Blender side, I wonder if the Sverchok plugin could make these kind of things based on a given set of a few input parameters? (Don't have any experience with it though.)

Other than that, I wonder if there's any plugins that would allow macros in Blender? Chaining a few commands even when manually modeling would likely make this go a lot faster.

The market for Blender stuff is a bit nascent, but I could see the need for it. I know most people expect freebies because the software itself is free, but that content doesn't always come into existance without some cost (mostly in terms of time spent) to the creator.

As for tutorials, I seek out the free stuff. But I could see where the pay-for ones have their value. In that case it's all about presentation. Sure that information may be out there at no cost, but the tutorials for sale should put in the effort to make things much more clear and concise. (Try to make it look professional or out of a textbook.) I know I've made my own free tutorials, but since nobody's paying, I'm not too worried about making them pretty. Now if somebody were asking for money and was being as lazy as I am and doing things "freestyle", then no, it's not going to be worth it. That money paid should cover rehersals so the trail and error isn't as much a factor, and post production editing.

This also goes for actual 3D content. If somebody's paying for a .blend, it ought to be fully featured. Not just a 3D model, but materials, textures, rigs/drivers/script, some documentation. And perhaps a few extra goodies like a few alternate textures or included pose sets for NLA or what have ya. All those things take time and effort to make work well and look good, so of course it's ok to ask somebody to pay for that.