As a filmmaker, I stand by Lucas now that I have encountered a very similar experience myself. I made a spoof of A Christmas Carol. People loved it. If you really want to get what I'm going at here, you can find my film at recstudios.net. You probably liked it, right? I know it's my best work, but there's something that keeps bothering me, more and more each time I watch it. Scrooge's shop was badly lit. The Marley ghost effect was too cheap. Fezziwig's costume "magically" changes. A techno dance party, where Scrooge was supposed to meet Belle, was never filmed. The ending with the three ghosts, a tribute to Return of the Jedi, was horribly botched, where a simple music cue would tip people off that that's what I'm referencing. I could go on for hundreds of pages....
Right now, I am working on a "special edition" of An REC Christmas Carol, with proper lighting, better effects, a more proper tribute to ROTJ... and when done, I will want that version to go on display, not the original. I'll still keep the original archived, but my artistic vision for it will finally be fully realized. You see... I feel almost embarassed to have what I consider to be an incomplete version of An REC Christmas Carol out there for everyone to see, and I imagine Lucas feels the same way about the OOT. All the same, I'd feel bad if the fans hated the new version. But would you want a version that bugs you to no end displayed for the entire world to see? Of course not! I bet Lucas sympathizes with people who want the OOT back, but for that very reason he doesn't want it released.
I'm sure people can live with the Special Editions. I'll compare the OT to coke. Coke is a great soft drink. Virtually everybody loves it. I used to hate Diet Coke, but now I see that they're the same. Slightly watered down, only slightly. It's not New Coke, it's Diet Coke. You'd never notice the difference unless you tasted the original.
Now consider this: Somebody takes a can of Coke, opens it, drinks half the contents, then puts it down on a table. Then he opens up a cooler, takes out an ice-cold, full, unopened can of Diet Coke and puts it on the table and says you can pick one. Which do you choose? I'd choose the Diet Coke any day. It's not that I like Diet Coke better, it's just the fact that there's a greater amount of the Diet Coke, and the quality/quantity ratio is greater than the Coke.
That's how I feel about the original version video releases. Because they're full screen, cutting out half of the picture, I don't feel like watching half a movie. I could get a laserdisc, but I don't have a player and frankly I don't want to spend the time, effort, and money chasing one down. I understand suggesting the guy get Coke, because most prefer it to Diet Coke, but I wouldn't hate him and call him names like LucASS just because he doesn't want to get you non-diet Coke, because that's pretty damn ungrateful. He's at least offering you Coke, and diet or not, Coke is a great drink.
So before you go insult/bash Lucas again, remember.... He's offering you Diet Coke, and here's your choice: Do you accept the Diet Coke and thank him, or do you whine about the fact that it's diet?