Again, my fear is if I bite the bullet and move forward with VM 2, them what will they strip out on the next "upgrade"?
Remember Coca-Cola? or New Coke? then Both? Then the dumping of New Coke?
A little off base but you can't live life with this kind of fear. I know what you mean about "buggy" too not to mention the possibility of opening the door for hackers. Adjust and move on. Better yet drop your website development, go learn php, html, css, javascript, mysql... and make your own solution. Once you see it from their side you will probably need so sell your solution to make up for loss of income from your own website.
Free enterprise is wonderful. It gives the core developers the opportunity to define and re-define what core is for their business model.
Look at it this way, ever have a hamburger? Add cheese for .50 cents. No cheese but cut the onions, same price as the core (hamburger), which I feel is wrong because I don't want onions so I should pay less than what the core price is. However, the maker of the core (hamburger) has set the price of the core to include tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and pickles. If I don't want to pay for cheese there is a solution... I bring my own. The down side is I still had to pay for the cheese just at a reduced cost by removing their "labor charge" for slapping on a piece of cheese. If I had the time and money I would make a hamburger joint that charged for each individual ingredient of the burger.
My point is at least the price of the core (VM) is not changed but the definition of it is redefined. I'm not happy about it but as I see it I have two choices. Don't use cheese or bring my own. I scrape the onions off and give them to my wife cause she loves 'em, after all I'm payin' for 'em anyway.