It sounds like you think it odd that exec-level staff should be honoring the wishes of the people who do all the work, but I'm not getting why. Sure, most companies are authoritarian hierarchies. But most companies also pay people enough that they'll put up with the authoritarianism, at least for a while. When you pay $0 for core labor, that means you've given up most of your ability to push people around.

I didn’t actually say what I think about anything.

And I never said otherwise.

I think the pace of change has been just right, though. They added a graphical editor and modernifed the interface styling. Both of those changes happened about 5 years later than I would have expected, but you can tell they were carried out with extreme care not to piss off any users. We end up with an experience that pleases everyone.

> ...power users throw a fit over any changes.

Such a freq complaint it's a cliché.

Certainly been true for every software product and service I've worked.

Yes, I think it’s the way of the world. If the power users and gatekeepers are aligned with the bulk of user’s needs it works well. We usually see issue like this when things get out of alignment.