What people seem to forget about the weight argument for compact geoms is that for UCI-sanctioned events like Giro, TdF, etc. you can't be under 15 lbs. total for the bike. Most traditional frames that the pro's have today can get there easily.

"Traditional" or "Italian" 73/73 geom with a fairly short chainstay is still alright with me. Probably the only geom I'll ever buy, except maybe in a CX frame.

The cross bike that I sold last fall had a compact geom, and it was fine for that. I didn't care for it as a straight road rig though, because I couldn't get stretched out enough at the bars without changing stems/bars, and then the handling was slower.

Compacts don't look like a road bike to me. They more resemble someone's attempt at mutating a MTB for road use.

Call me a retro-grouch, but it seems to me that traditional geom has been around for decades basically unchanged for a reason...it works.