@sbj excellent post. Articulates and clarifies really well what I've been noticing and posting about and got attacked for by apologists the other day, alas.
I think something has happened at the company and all is not well, unfortunately. This total lack of communication is terrible and doesn't bode well for the medium and long term. It's certainly not the way to treat your paying customers. This is commercial software after all, not free.
It wouldn't surprise me if XF revenue has tanked, perhaps, as quietness can be one of the signs until big news breaks our, like a company going into administration, perhaps. Pure speculation by me, but most things are driven by money, so not totally unreasonable.
If the worst should happen and I can no longer use XF for whatever reason, then I have an Invision license that I can renew (expensive and no post numbers, alas) or maybe - shock - go to vBulletin if I really had to and finally get that half decent article system I've been talking about here. I get the impression that the latest version is probably not as terrible as people think it is. I don't have a vB license btw.
But for now, my site works fine, so I sit tight and on tenterhooks for an update - any update - like everybody else.