Basically, people who love Star Wars have their own individual vision about it. A perfect example would be all of the Extended Universe books that have been made over the years.
That being said, a lot of people don't like the remakes of the OT, or the prequels. And some of these people that feel this way have made re-edits for the first two prequels to sort of put in the image the way they thought it should have been. I think it's a pretty cool of people who do that myself, because the endeavor they go through doesn't earn them anything other than a 'thanks' since they cannot recieve money for their troubles.
As far as your comparison, it all comes down to choice. If someone likes one of the re-edits that Magnolia Fan has done (which I do
), or the one Trooperman is working on, they can ask for it and have that choice. But if they like the unedited prequel the way it came out in theatres, they can go to a store and buy it. However the same can't be said about the Original Trilogy. There are only the 97 Special Editions and the 2004 DVD Editions, not the originals. Were the originals avaiable to the public readily, I doubt this board would be half as populated as it is now.