[fusiongyro]

This complaint is basically the reason XeTeX was written, which accesses your standard system fonts instead. LuaTeX also handles TTF and OpenFont without trouble. These both produce PDFs instead of DVI or Postscript output (per your comment below).

[nailer]

I'm not sure why you're not replying to that comment, but yes, there's a bunch of software created to have better defaults than vanilla TeX. This reinforces the point.

[icebraining]

Not really, because when people say "use LaTeX", they don't really mean you should use only the original version of the software, they're talking about the overall suite of TeX derived programs.

[nailer]

Really, because workarounds prove the point. Actual TeX doesn't do what people want.

[icebraining]

Even the article says there's a LaTeX fetish. Nobody is pushing vanilla TeX, the point is arguing against a strawman.

[bdamm]

Evolution through composition is not a bug.