"I fully expect to have a similar experience in moving from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8."

Have you tried it yet? The amount of knowledge and boilerplate needed to create a simple 'hello world' module in d8 is absurd (i started with d5 btw). The transition from d7 to d8 is going to make the d6 to d7 transition look like a walk in the park.

And it's really irritating to continually see those that don't buy into the D8 changes as somehow inherently less capable (which is why they're resistant).

Personally, I am perfectly capable of developing with a complex OOP environment. I still have to use asp.net and C# regularly. I chose drupal so I could save myself that unnecessary grief whenever possible.

And at first I thought, ok, I'll just have to learn symfony and that will give me a heads up. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that no, I didn't just need to learn symfony, I needed to learn yet another drupal specific implementation of a standard system that includes all sorts of Drupal WTFs.

And that doesn't even include the continued performance degradation with each new major release that anyone who cant throw $$$$$ at HW and infra can't fix or the mentioned insane cost of a major version upgrade. I'm actually concerned I may put my job at risk when I have to explain the cost, in both time and infra, that the d8 upgrade will take.

I'm perfectly capable of learning the d8 way. The question is, is it worth it. Or, since I'm going to have to learn something completely new anyway, should I find a more sustainable solution.

No, for me I think it's time to just say no now and hope I can find an off ramp that doesn't require me to find a new job as well.

"As a community, we need to address the need that exists at both ends of the spectrum and help to preserve our community by encouraging developers of all walks to participate and contribute to Drupal."

Sorry, but the core team responsible for the changes are well aware of the issues and have been for some time. D8 wasn't an accident-- it was a plan. It's not likely to change now-- even if it could.

See the excellent blog by jenlampton for an excellent description of why backdrop is a viable solution and fixing Drupal isn't.

And see sun's blog for an excellent understanding of the communication problems that have contributed to the need for it.