I didn't want to stray far off of using SM to learn languages. Oh well. (This one's long...)
"It has become pretty clear over the years that the only reason these changes have been introduced is to convince people to pay for upgrades." I don't think I would go as far as attributing motives to the creators of Supermemo, people you've never met.
"Although it might be academically interesting to figure out the best way to retain obscure facts, it isn't very useful for language acquisition. The best way is to actually use the language itself." It sounds like you're backpedeling a bit. The purpose of spaced-repetition learning is to RETAIN, not to LEARN. LEARNING (Especially learning a language) takes place first, and spaced-repetitions are simply to "hold" that learned knowledge in place (Like a nail holds up a picture. You paint the picture first, then "nail" it in place). The ability to RETAIN learned information can be useful not only for language study, but theoretically any aspect of life that involves retention of learned knowledge. I should also probably mention that I've been using Supermemo for ALL of my general educational needs. I study theology and other religions a great deal, and I'm spending some time reviewing stuff I learned (Or should have learned) at school in addition to Chinese and Japanese.
Here's the process I went through that led to what I'm doing today: Once I "got" the concept of spaced repetition, I wanted to implement such a program of study into every aspect of my life that I could. But first I had to start with Japanese, the language I wanted so desperately to learn. I tried quite a few pieces of flashcard software before I settled on Supermemo. The only one I remember vividly was "StackZ," although I used many others. I don't think Anki or memosyne existed at the time. Anyway, in using the various flashcard software I went so far as to have a calender, and as I reviewed words (Actually files that had a set of Japanese words in them, usually about 10-15), I would reschedule them for a later time. First a few days later, then a week, then a few weeks, etc. This quickly became burdensome as I came to have too many files to manage ("Today I must review file 03, 15, 36 and 75." That gets cumbersome rather quickly.) In the end I would ditch the system, and move onto another. At one point I created literally thousands of paper flashcards and had different boxes and stacks, each which coorisponded to a level and sub-level of that particular group or stack. Depending on the level/sub-level of the cards I would review them at different intervals. Again, once my cards went beyond two thousand or so I collapsed under the burden. Then I would move onto something else.
When I found Supermemo I thought "This might be what I want, but I have to KNOW that it can take WHATEVER amount of material I throw at it." Having gotten so used to scheduling and rescheduling when to review stuff, if a program could relieve me of that long-term burden that would be heaven. So as a test I loaded Supermemo down with a bunch of vocabulary words, and although as a result I had to review a lot of material I still retained the words. After a few weeks I realized "Holy crap, this is legit." So I started adding more vocabulary, phrases, and eventually moved onto non-Japanese material. Soon if I came across information that I deemed important enough to remember, be it through my own personal notes, books I had read, or stuff I read online, I began to gradually put that information into Supermemo. And I kept remembering it. No matter what I threw at it, if I structured the flashcard correctly I was able to recall any piece of information I had put into the program.
So in my mind I began to think of this as not only being a nifty computer tool but as ultimately my key to near-absolute enhanced knowledge retention. Once I began thinking along those lines my lifestyle gradually adjusted in order to let Supermemo become a daily part of my life. It was almost like hiring a really good employee. If an employee is really talented at something, the employer will assign jobs to that employee that falls within the employee's realm of specialty. If the employee proved reliable it would make work go very smooth and more could be accomplished in a shorter period of time. After a while the employer would not fret over assigning jobs to the employee, because the he/she knows that the employee is good at their job. Such is my relationship with Supermemo. The more I used it the more reliable it became, thus I felt more comfortable in using it to remember other stuff. I just let it do it's job and don't worry about it. If I forget it, Supermemo will correct me and adjust the algorithm as needed. (I forgot to mention, based on your input, Supermemo adjusts it's algorithm to suit your learning style. Thus, hard information is treated differently than easy information. But in order for the algorithms to get "in sync" with your rate of forgetting, one must spend time using Supermemo, allowing it to more less "become calibrated" with you).
So at this point in my life I use Supermemo for many, MANY things that fall outside of the realm of language study. But if the principle of spaced repetition is legit, it can be (And should be, imo) used in many other fields of knowledge if such a system of study can be implemented (Such a system could be impractical for others). And until Supermemo utterly fails me (Like so many other programs/systems have in the past), I'm going to keep using it better my language ability and my general knowledge of the world around me. Again, I don't know the nuts-and-bolts of the algorithms working in Supermemo's background, but I know that they are flexible enough to allow me to remember any piece of information I want: vocabulary words, scientific, religious and psychological concepts, historical events, and so on. Heck, I know someone that is using it to remember word combinations in Scrabble.
So although other programs such as Anki or memosyne might give you the same results as Supermemo does when it comes to learning languages, I doubt they were made for the wide-scale implementation that I have come to look for in an SRS. That's not to say they're bad programs, but what I'm using works, and until I stops working I'm going to keep using it.
"Succinctly, there is no proof that Supermemo is better at retention than other programs. Currently all of the evidence is purely empirical." Sweet. Let's just leave it at that.
"The newer programs use SM's algorithms, lol. You don't have to prove that SM works to this group." If I'm not mistaken, the core algorithm for Supermemo has only changed slightly over the years. The main improvements over previous versions involve a more wide-spread use of Supermemo in other fields of learning.
"However, you haven't tried the other programs and honestly the improvements are well worth at least checking out." I have no doubt for learning Japanese and other Asian languages many other programs work great, and they are likely MUCH easier to deal with than Supermemo. But considering how committed and satisfied I am with Supermemo right now, I see no need to switch to something else. If Supermemo ever stops fulfilling my needs, I'll be the first to download a different program.
"Please don't take this post the wrong way. I'm not attacking you or SM (well, maybe SM a little hehe)." No, I understand. It's gasoline just waiting to be set aflame by a flame war.
Yeah, the pronunciation is "ari no ikketsu."
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