It just fries my mind that we live in a world where f/2.0 zooms in a multitude of prospective sizes doesn't count as an example of new and inventive. What did you want? Sparklers shooting out of it? In all honesty, why does an array of f/2.0 zooms NOT count as new and inventive, but a copy of an already available (granted crop-sensor) lens DOES?
And to answer your question about the "junky" 24-105, yeah, we did need it. Because like it or not, consumer-level sales are going to drive the development of this product line, not the other way around. If this plus an entry-level body drives adoption of the R series into the mainstream, I'm all for it. I doubt I'll buy one, but I'm more than happy to let the sales of them pay for the engineering and development of products I likely will buy in the future.