IMHO, changing magic to be attacks vs. static defenses was one of the best changes they made for 4E, and I am extremely disappointed that they chose to back to a boring, no-roll magic system. There is nothing more anticlimactic than having a spell fail, and not even because of your dice.
The thing I never liked about saving throws was how darn confusing they often were.
EX: NPC casts X against me.
"Well what's my DC against his attack?" I ask.
"Well roll and see."
*I roll* "Did I make it?"
"*answer*"
Attacks against specific defenses was clear and clean cut, either you hit, or you didn't. Spell DCs were confusing, sometimes they were higher, sometimes they were lower, casting "charm person" as an attack against my will made sense. I didn't have to attempt to save against it, I just knew if I was or was not charmed.
Not to mention, spell saves and rolling saves in general, makes for a lot of work, especially on the DMs side, as he's running half a dozen critters that all may have different saves against all kinds of spells with different saves.
EDIT: also, that last poll question, how do you give a straight answer to that?