Well... maybe not insanity - but definitely frustration. The real crux in software development is keeping your 'bits' cruising along at attack speed; that is to say - keeping your application running and your users happy. The worst case scenario?

When people see these kinds of screens it doesn't help anyone. Developers get a smear for not keeping apps / source up-to-date... and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a direct correlation between these kinds of screens and income turning to vapor.

Basically, it all grinds down to a single simple problem: alpha, beta, or version skew. We all understand what it means to keep your development rig running on the latest and greatest framework or SDK (no matter how painful) in order to pump out sweet examples of code-awesomeness. It's also understandable why the same developers gravitate towards frameworks / languages like Java or .NET (read: they offer backward compatibility) in high risk production environments... at the cost of huge downloads which most software users have grown to expect.

Except... when we are talking about the Flash Player; it's a quick and unobtrusive download. This is how its always been and its how Adobe wants to keep it. I'm down with that - butts... Yes... I said, 'butts.'

Butts #1: Backward compatibility has been placed on the chopping block due to is monstrous cost. If you like playing in the alpha, beta, or pre-release sanbox... expect to reap the whirlwind at the next milestone.
Butts #2: In-version compatibility is enforced by the compiler (don't have time to cover this one here) so, if you aren't already thinking 'marshal-plan' you probably should.

There are more 'butts' - but I want to stop there mostly because I don't want this post to leave you with a bad after-taste. There is hope and the creative minds at Adobe are hard at work on reasonable solutions. In the meantime, be real in your expectations when releasing samples to the interwebs with alpha, beta, pre-release, or home-grown frameworks / SDKs... try to update your samples as soon as possible or offer source in your examples to reduce pain points of information seekers. And for the more adventurous - releasing software into the enterprise with alpha, beta, or pre-release tools is a very bad idea period.

Also,if you haven't had a chance to read up on the marshal plan it's a must read! As far as release details go - the "Marshall Plan" is supposed to be included in the Flex 3.2 SDK update.