hairy_hen said:

I expect that the availability of the Despecialized Edition itself has contributed somewhat to that shift in attitude. Before, the only way anybody could see the films in a modern format was to get the DVD's or Blurays, so they put up with the changes because they had to—perhaps rationalizing them away as being "not that bad". Now, with a bit of effort it's possible for anybody to see the original versions in high quality. The superior artistic merits of the originals speak for themselves, especially when presented on equal footing with the official releases and not hindered by low resolution and other problems.

If sales of this digital release are lower due to increased demand for the original versions, Disney really only have themselves to blame for not putting them out themselves.

I also wonder if anyone in charge of releases knows about the Despecialized Editions. They've been gaining traction over the last few years and have a sizable following outside of this site. I'm wondering if there's a possibility that they would believe that fans would consider the DE good enough, thus to them having no obligation to release the originals. Or, and more preferably, it shows Disney/Lucasfilm the demand for the OOT and the lengths fans will go to in order to see the originals in decent quality.