In reply to mark k..

@mark k. Automattic's increased focus on WordPress.com is obviously, and finally, an attempt to meet the marketplace's demands for something far less complicated and time-consuming to learn and maintain than self-hosted WordPress. It's also a sign that WordPress professionals also need to better focus on making self-hosted WordPress less complicated and time-consuming to learn and maintain. Because no matter how "powerful" and flexible self-hosted WordPress may be, an increasing number of people are going to decide against self-hosted WordPress as their options increase.