I had a PICStart+ and really found it convenient. I even made an adapter with short ribbon cable for the few times I did ICSP. Eventually when I started using the enhanced mid-range chips, the warnings about lack of support got the better of me, and I sent it to Mr RB for the cost of postage.
Yesterday while trying to solve my simulator problem, I installed MPLAB X. My initial impression was not good either, as I might have implied. More objectively, I tried to compile a "clean" program that compiled with no errors or warnings in MPLAB 8.92. I got a ton of errors. The ones related to case sensitivity I expected, but couldn't figure out how to turn off case sensitivity. So, I fixed those errors.
There were still several errors related to "spaces", but unlike 8.92, I couldn't just click on them to get a clue as to where they were. Supposedly, both assemblers should be following MPASM's format, but that apparently is not the case. One thing I use is the bar "_" when I want to use a label that is either prohibited, repeated, or easier for me to read when the characters are separated. For example, I used "_data," but apparently MPLAB X didn't like that. At that point, I gave up trying to fix the code. Ver. 8.92's comments are cryptic enough. I was not in a mood for the additional effort. Nevertheless, I suspect the day will come when I either convert the X-version or something entirely different. This may drive me to C the light.
Edit: It would have been nice had Microchip chosen to introduce X with a compatibility mode, like Win7 64 or the newest versions of Eagle, to ease the transition. I can guess why it didn't do that, but it would have been nice.
John