I am intrigued by the ongoing discussion and appreciate the comments! Just to re-contribute: I very much agree that any bike can make a great commuter, as I said on my (apparently controversial!) 2008 commuting bikes page.

I also said on the page that the type of bike I wanted years ago (fairly upright riding position; fenders, lights, rack, other conveniences as part of package) was not widely available in the U.S. Now, it is! -- a whole market segment has sprung up offering this type of bike.

I think this is great, and interesting, and I think it's safe to call this segment "commuting bikes." (Or at least -- I thought it was.) I freely admit that I made some fairly arbitrary distinctions in order to keep the page manageable, so I guess I grant that the choice of bikes was my own. No offense intended, "piss-poor thread title" notwithstanding!

It is always healthy to reiterate that someone doesn't need a fancy bike to commute on, in that sense I wholeheartedly endorse what markhr is saying.