I'd say it's hard for most people in their early twenties to remember what a console war is like, let alone the teenagers and youngsters voicing their opinions these days (Wow! My first ever "I'm a member of the old guard" post). Also, Facebook (which was only for college students at the time and much more limited), Twitter (which wasn't even created yet) and the online proliferation of message boards wholly devoted to video gaming were NOWHERE near as ubiquitous as they are these days. The console wars really boiled down to mags like Game Informer and EGM, or IGN and a few other sites discussing the pros and cons, now anyone and everyone can practically anywhere voice their opinion and connect with other voices that are thinking the same thoughts.

Doing away with backwards compatibility, changing up controllers, forcing high-speed only connections, pay for online, not support DVD playback, require internet check-in, add motion controls, require a hard drive install, not changing up the controller, too high an initial price point, DLC, etc...there are things every console generation that miff us, and some that honestly are quite dumb, but as long as there are new experiences that prove fun then I think overall the userbase will adapt.

Do I think many people are justified in some of their worries with the new XBO, most definitely! But as was the case when Microsoft came back and at least added limited backwards compatibility with original Xbox games after the outcry, maybe they'll wise up and re-evaluate some of their internet check-in policies with this new generation.

I more than likely will wait until the next Halo to purchase an XBO (unless Sunset Overdrive really proves to be as fun as I hope it will be), but the cloud based gaming, SmartGlass enhancement and instant-switching between games and apps really is exciting! Not to mention the expanded friends list, nixing of Microsoft Points, Kinect 2.0 with voice controls in every console, no game discs needed but still available, day one digital downloads, etc.

TLDR
Some of the XBO features are justifiably worrisome, but past generations have brought on their own hurdles and roadblocks and we the consumer adapted. We just didn't have the internet as ubiquitous as it is now to tell us how ignorant or how paranoid we were then.

- MacGyver10