It's an attempt to make a better UI to appeal to new users, I'd guess.
However, for me, I've already got past the intro newbie stage and progressed to better things. The new gear doesn't handle half of the crap I'd need it to to consider serious adoption.
Webcore for the heavy lifting and sharptools for the clever UI.
THAT is what is key...if these things will evolve or end up being half baked and dead ended.
The minute somebody says, "I can't do xyz" and xyz is something many people probably want to do (e.g. not a one off use) then that worries ya about starting to build with the new stuff for fear it's going to always be "slightly less capable".
In other words, your time might be better spent just plowing through the less intuitive tool set until it becomes intuitive. That said, I see the visual RM in a different category than the improved dashboard toolkit. The latter NEEDED a refresh and expanded capability...if that doesn't end up being "the path forward" for dashboards it will be disappointing.