In this particular case, it was a sort of bait-and-switch that set users off. And I can't really blame them.

Unfortunately, there will always be a downside to the free software market for developers and users. There's going to be folks who have unreasonable expectations and those that lose trust.

On the whole, I'd say it works pretty well as far as WordPress is concerned. Developers keep jumping into the market and users keep downloading. It's just a matter of acting ethically and treating each other respect. Not everyone is going to pass those tests.