IMO the more flexible the solution is - the more users it will end up attracting.
I don't agree with this statement at all. Making things more flexible incures a semantic dilution
Sorry . I do not get this.
(not to speak of the added complexity necessary to support that flexibility)
More flexible solution is not nesseserility more complex. It's maybe just better designed with flexibility in mind. Actually I believe that in general Policy based designs tend to lead to more simple solution, since they clearly separate independent notions and each one of them is quite easy to implement separately. It does require good original component design though.
that encourages users to just 'roll their own' solution.
Why? And having inflexible solution doesn't? Did you notice how many times in his list people comes up with threads like: lets have another smart pointer (guard, manager e.t.c.) like this ....?
I'm not saying that flexibility or genericity is bad. But it comes with a price.
What kind of price? Perforamce, usability, space?
Regards, Stefan
Gennadiy