All in all, Dan, you have some real valid points. My (a little harsh) reaction to the R23 overall first-impression, stems from my feeling of MAXON releasing yet another tech preview.
When it comes to the "wrong joint orientations", I fixed this myself with the C++ plugins I programmed myself already in 2013. Pity I don't have the time / resources right now to make these plugins mature enough the be public available.
I also agree that the sum of the new animation enhancements is larger than one might think, just casting a glance at it.
I am about to purchase an upgrade to R23 now.
-Ingvar