It's what I like about the Mac platform.
Apple doesn't impede progress by pandering to the those afraid to move off of legacy technology. They tend to be pretty definitive.
The lastest generation of macs saw DVI get replaced by DisplayPort. There were complaints about why Apple was moving to a new technology but the end game is always the same. Apple always wants to move to superior technology but their idea of what's superior is likely different from many consumers.
Optical is on borrowed time. Apple is not investing in the format with significant software updates or adding Blu-ray to appease fans.
Online storage is going to be the next "free email" rush. Eventually Google will field an entry to match the growing list of companies giving free bandwith up.
For some of you it may dawn on you, as your Superdrive clatters it's way to recording your data, that you could have just pushed the data to cloud storage and had your recipient retrieve it.
In a year there will be too too many file distribution sources to ignore and Apple will pull the optical drive as a standard item and the vast majority of complainers will be the "I'm set in my ways curmudgjeons"
It's not a good idea to do that yet. The optical drive will eventually go away, yes. But I'd be willing to bet that not a whole lot of people have the kind of connection required to upload several GB's of data a day. It just isn't possible right now. Maybe in 5 or 10 years, but not now.