Simulating area lights by using an array of spot lights or point lights has been done. Parenting a series of lights to a simple prop that is invisible at render time is straightforward. Adding ERC so that light intensity, color, map size etc. can be adjusted from the prop is also straightforward. I'm not sure whether it's possible to toggle between RT shadows and DM shadows via ERC, if not, it's not too hard to implement that using PoserPython.

ShaderSpider is a great tool. Again, thanks to PoserPython. Again, a very useful addon to Poser that SM didn't have to implement themselves - third-party developers already can do an awful lot of useful things.
Leveraging third party tools by exposing more Poser functionality via Python and improving the UI integration of Python scripts would make Poser extendable, and thus far more valuable. The introduction of the Scripts menu in Poser 7 was a step in the right direction, but more is needed:  customizable menu and toolbars/palettes, making it easy to integrate scripts into the user interface.
The best would be a complete decoupling of user interface and functionality, in fact, implementing menus, toolbars and palettes as Python scripts that call into the Poser functionality would be a nice clean 21st century way to do it. Alas, that would require a complete rewrite of the application core, something that isn't going to happen anytime soon AFAIK.

I'm wondering about the Setup room. How many users actually USE the Setup room? I guess it's a small minority. It's useful for content developers, although it misses quite a bit of functionality to be called a full fledged content development tool.
Same goes for the Hair room, and to a somewhat lesser degree the Cloth room. There's a mix of content developer functionality and end user functionality.
Separating content developer functionality from end user functionality might be a good idea. An affordable "Poser Base" next to a more expensive "Poser Pro" (geared towards integration into a professional 3D production pipeline) and a "Poser Content Developer" (with an improved Setup  room, Hair room and Cloth room, possibly with an integrated Python editor) would give the customer a clear choice - never a bad idea.

The pen is mightier than the sword. But if you literally want to have some impact, use a typewriter

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