Just wanted you guys to know that I'm listening, and working hard on it.  The maps are, as always, taking a long time to process.  I don't just use the USGS quads as-is.  They are all re-projected and seamlessly mosaic'd, individually checked that they edgematch, and compressed so they take up much less room than the other topo mapping packages out there.  It takes a bit of time, but in the end it's worth it.  The new software will use a different map-pack file format that is faster, cross platform compatible, and ultimately create-able by you guys.
Craig