It might not be a case of "stingy" so much as the sad fact that "embedded systems" tend to be GENERATIONS behind the current "general purpose" computer systems, http://embeddedboard.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/comparison-of-embedded-processor-families/ . Some of most popular the system-on-a-chip embedded controllers use memory very sparingly and the decision to increase even "file access space" type memory can have negative consequences on things like start-up and routines that force a re-scan for settings (it is my hunch that this sort of problem is what lies at the root of the Sherwood 972 issues, I could be wrong but if that is the case it would explain why no "patch" will ever be able to fundamentally fix some of its problems...) .

I suppose the alternatives (like relying on a full blown interactive OS like Linux) may be one way of addressing this sort of problem, but from an 'efficiency & elegance of design' view (which most engineers tend to have to one degree or another...) it is more than a little like replacing a family sedan with a Greyhound Bus. I suppose there is not too much harm in having luggage capacity of 8 tons and seating for 56 (along with an on board lavatory! -- Motor Coach International but "overbuilding" is rarely either the way projects start out OR a viable way to "turn around" a stalled project. (And of course having a 12L 410 HP diesel motor idle while you drop the kids off at soccer practice would be the A/V pre-pro equivalent of having GHz class CPU and associated power supplies / cooling fans whirring around while you want to listen to music / TV shows, and carving out probably $250 or so toward non-AV specific HW is nutty too...)