This is great... looks like I lived long enough to see common sense actually become more common-- super compact cranksets:

Super-compact chainsets: the next big thing for road cyclists? - BikeRadar Australia

As an old aficionado of triples with a 53 ring and huge capacity derailleurs, who has come to appreciate the simplicity of compact cranks, this answers my last remaining beef. Like the article says (and I imagine I'm not the only geezer who'd at the least appreciate closer spacing more than top end)...