Brad Schell once commented that the intent of @Last was to develop the core product and let third-party ruby authors create peripheral capabilities. That intent is apparently still the driving force with Google now, since SU7 has improved the core significantly. No, it's not all bells and whistles (that's what ruby is for, in part), it's a more stable, more versatile platform. It's also still called SketchUp. It seems we have all just gotten so used to pushing it so far beyond its intended capabilities that we want/expect the combined capability of Rhino/Modo/Maya/Max/fill-in-the-blank wrapped in the familiar SU interface, and we want it last year.
I understand/sympathize/agree with the multicore, high-poly, shadow-bug-fix disappointments. I've also been alternately thrilled (new/requested capabilities and fixes to reported bugs) and disappointed (a few unfixed anomalies) with ruby issues as well. But considering what I can accomplish in 7 versus 6, I'm moving forward.
Similar complaints surrounded the release of 6, since few realized the huge potential that was added through ruby enhancements (observers and webDialogs). We still have yet to really hit the broader potential of those new features. There are similar enhancements to 7 that are either unnoticed/unknown or as-yet-underappreciated. A big one is that ruby scripts can now bypass a lot of UI calls and boost performance (by up to 2x) when creating/querying geometry. This has been a bottleneck for 3 versions, and is now fixed! I also think the power of DCs is unappreciated. There is HUGE potential waiting for 3rd party developers here, FAR BEYOND just prebuilt manufacturers' components (he said, with a knowing smile).
As for some of the rancor in this thread, my goodness - it sounds worse than tomsdesk, solo, bellwells, and me in a political discussion! (I am glad we can all still be friends, even after that)
Bottom line:
Was it everything that everyone wanted? No. Clearly no.
Is it an improvement over 6? Yes. Tremendous. And (as yet) unappreciated.