I'm tired of these "I'm smart X is hard" articles. When I read posts like this I have a nagging feeling that the authors are just as interested in proclaiming their "smartness" as they are in publishing meaningful observations.

That's an unfortunate misinterpretation. Being "smart" is a part of one's identity, and the author is merely examining his present situation through that lens.

Sean,

Streamus is fantastic. Great job. I've been looking for something like this. I'm building a couple of Chrome extensions, any tips would be appreciated.

Hummm,

Could you be more specific? I know pretty much everything there is to know on extensions (or I'd like to think I do...), but there's so much to them!

What're your goals with them? What do they do?

I'm sorry, but this sounds like sour grapes. If you build software, you're an exogenic source of that erosion too. You've created tools that have made it easier for the next person to contribute. This practice makes software development unique and exciting. There are plenty of competent and incompetent engineers and self-taught developers alike. The currency of expertise is not exclusive to post-secondary accredited programmers. It's earned with results and hard work.

I understand how some of these changes could frustrate users, but, honestly, the analogy ( used in the title ) of 'Photoshop' being user friendly just doesn't hold water. Also, the idea that every choice in UX needs to fit neatly into some Jakob Nielsen checklist is antiquated. I don't think developers/designers should blatantly ignore proven UI methodologies, but there does need to be a balance between standards, and aesthetics, or else, an application runs risk of becoming steril.