LewTwo, love the pic of the rim brakes they used in the comparison and the example they used for the disc brake...cable pull Avid BB7's? The part about "very young" mechanics knowing how to work on disc brakes, but perhaps challenged by rim brakes...what? Bleeding hydraulic disc brakes can be challenging, especially without the specific tools for many mechanics. I was not aware of the compared difficulty of adjusting rim brakes...especially V-brakes. Well, thankfully neither involve rocket science...LOL!
raylo, I'm kind of with you on the disc brake application for road bikes in a general way. Hardcore road rocket boys can benefit from hydros, TDF honchos, and a lot of riders in high elevation descents also benefit. Extremely rainy locales can give a nod to road bike hydros too. In the real and more common riding scenarios most riders do just fine with good rim brakes.
For my mountain biking I've pretty much always used disc brakes since '99...Hayes was the thing back then. I've only ever used single piston units until recently. For my big hit bikes I just went to 203mm rotors. They got a little challenged occasionally in some places like Moab on my pedal-only bike. You could literally smell brake pad material sometimes...LOL!
With my Nomad/BBSHD now at about 50 pounds, I just installed a set of 4-piston Tektro Orions with 203mm front and 180mm rear. While there are no extreme, extended downhills here, the heavy bike with a motor require less pressure for smooth, effective braking now. Hand/wrist pump and fatigue is greatly reduced and almost eliminated on long rides. I also did away with my hydro brake shutoff sensors. With these brakes, it's much nicer to stay on the pedals a bit as I approach or go out of corners with the motor still on power, using the brakes to control entry and exit speeds in corners or obstacles. I notice many/most of the burlier trail emtbs like the Trek Rails and such are coming with 4-piston brakes. Makes sense.