"Some of the new or improved features we've seen in recent version seem to be very far from the core functionality of a modeling tool. (such as project management features, or charts)"
EA is currently being used in some large organisations where the modelling task is outsourced to a service provider that provides modellers. Examples include industry models development and enterprise architecture models development.
In these contexts, the modelling effort is large and require project management support, hence the pm tools.
I also think that bugs apart, part of the pain for the individual early user of the software is seeing the tool grow with features that do not directly support parts of the model delivery process of interest. But I can assure you that it can only get better. I would rather have a company that innovates with imperfect solution than a stagnant company with perfect limited product capabilities. Where is KnowledgeWare (IEW/ADW) and Popkin Software (System Architect) today. I used these tools and in the early days of my career, they were considered great.
I am pleased with the addition of new tools - the Schema Composer and Builder. These additions make otherwise complex processes more visual for non-programmers. They enable a more truly agile approach to application development.
We are the community, so lets keep on raising the bug reports and of course new feature requests as the CASE tool market is highly competitive and fragmented. For our favourite tool to survive and be available to us, it must beat competing solutions in a number of areas including usability and useful features.
