What the heck is this and why is the default on?
I assume you are seeing that on the Zigbee Details screen, and based on the phrasing on the release page, can only assume this was something that happened automatically behind the scenes and the ability to turn it off has now been made available.
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I had read that earlier, but not correctly. I didn't realize that it already had been happening and this was a way to turn if off. Not that I understand any of the motivations or ramifications.
I remember when, (and I don't go too far back with this stuff), Zigbee was supposed to be the reliable one and Z-wave, the flakey sibling. Not so much now anymore. 
I'm no expert, but I don't know if I'd label an entire protocol as good or bad, I expect it comes down to how well it is implemented (by the device manufacturers I mean) and all the other environmental factors that can impact wireless technologies. I would imagine polling is not a preferred outcome, but when you are trying to deliver a great user experience whilst catering to a wide and varied array of devices, sometimes the better outcome is what wins. I'm sure there must have been some successes as a result of this approach, so don't have a problem with it personally.
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I think this is something very good for determining the devices online/offline status.
Example:
For an Ikea TRADFRI plug which is always on and currently does not report back automatically anything to the hub - the "Last Activity At" is unusable (it may be months or years in the past):
The "Last Mesage" column ( in Settings -> Zigbee Details) however shows that the device is online!
Of course, this method will not work for all battery-powered Zigbee devices, in particular not for these, which fell into a 'deep sleep mode and only a button press, or internal periodic timer interrupt will wake them up. Some of the Sonoff sensors are such devices :
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specifically their contact sensors. My watchdog can't handle them, they have no presense, not battery reporting timer - nada - no way to tickle them. (I use the contact (no temp) driver) - I looked for a better driver but gave up.
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I had a gate opening routine fail today.
It involves a zigbee contact sensor, that I thought may be messing up.
Turns out, according to the logs, we arrived at the precise time of one of the now-more-frequent 8 second outages.
