nah, it's not a rationalization. ppl ran stuff in non-standard configs that shimano said would never work. yes, it sucks that a FW upgrade "broke" things, but if one uses a non-standard/non-supported config of anything, one should be cautious with "upgrades." shimano sure didn't help matters with a lack of documentation and in tempting people to upgrade (esp non-savvy users), but i wouldn't be as dramatic as you are being. :)

Edit to fix quotation...my new post was mistakenly looking like it was part of jack's post.