So much for the hook idea -- just realized hooks are disabled during Performance Mode (which I don't really think is necessary). I can always just publish the skin edits as an article I suppose.
Considering it's your first time, you wouldn't understand that an RC release is the first testing release that a large amount of people are going to install and test out. There are only so many bugs that can be found by the amount of people who opt to test the Beta releases. Now that more people are using the RC, more bugs are going to be found and reported.
I don't really understand what would lead you to believe that the first RC is 'bad'.
I use two spaces after periods when posting, and I do so intentionally. Why, on display, is the second space removed? I could understand parsing out excess (4, 5, 6 spaces) but why the second (and still fairly standard) space?
I'm pretty sure you were never told to expect annual summer releases. The license renewal isn't solely for software upgrades -- you get access to staff support and the Resources site and forums.