Active installs is very important - the excuse that it's already taken into account when sorting the results is not good enough.

When deciding which plugin to use, the active installs is an indicator of the popularity and community support around the plugin. Same with Last Updated - if a plugin hasn't been updated for a year, I'd like to know that BEFORE installing.

It seems to me that they're trying to make it easier for smaller/newer plugins to grow - but I don't think this is the right way to do it.