Considering that in an OT topic Dale And Eli's Dad said he thought the Moon landings were faked, I think that says an awful lot about his logical and analytical capabilities, or lack thereof. Unless he was kidding, of course, but it did not appear he was.
Sorry, I just couldn't resist throwing that nugget out there. It's one of my few hot-button issues... with schedules probably being the other.
Anyway, on to the topic at hand. While I agree with some of the criticisms raised, I also feel some of the others are somewhat unfair.
The financial co-efficent, for example. For something like this to truly work properly it would take a complete overhaul of the financial system, something that was obviously not in the plans for OOTP6. Similarly, having all the dollars vanish when financials are turned off had been commented on by Markus. He mentioned that if that were done, many of the in-game screens would have ugly gaps and spaces in them were the dollar values used to be. You can rest assured that folks would complain about that. So, it was either redesign all the necessary screens to account for the lack of dollar figure displays, or just leave them in and let folks know that in spite of them being there they mean nothing.
Which choice is the better choice when it comes to allotting time to work on the game?
On the other hand, for example, not having a manual ready in time for the game's release is really inexcusable IMO. Given that the manual exists only in digital form there is no real reason why it can't be ready in time. It's not like the finished manual has to be sent off to the printers in order to be published in time for distribution with packaged copies of the game (and the lead time needed for a printed manual can run as long as a couple of months, often meaning a game is changed after the manual has been sent out for printing).
With 7 years' experience working in the graphic arts industry, I know a little about this topic. Heck, I'd still be happy to design a nice new manual for OOTP, I think I could do a good job on it. I'd do it nearly free of charge too - maybe just throw me a free copy of OOTP and I'd probably be happy.
So, I'd say some of the comments being put forth are valid, but some others I find to be either overreactions or somewhat unfair. In any case, I think the powers-that-be are going to need to step in and make a statement on some of these issues, because a brush fire like the current one could grow, and that wouldn't be good...