I gave it a shot shortly after it came out...and it's not a bad system. I just find it too confining, repetitive, and full of weird rules which break immersion for me. Not that any prior edition didn't have it's share (I'm looking at you, 3E Epic rules), but it was way too jarring to my sensibilities as either a DM or player.
Combine that with a general dislike of WotC's trend in both content and production levels over the last 3 years, I had no reason to shell out money again.
In the end, it afffects me little - where I live, people play based on the Genre and GM, not on System alone. I have over a dozen people who want me to run something - and if I chose RIFTS, I'd probably have players, because of how I run, not because of the system I use.
In the end, that's the key - it doesn't matter what system as long as the Ref is good at telling a story, and you are among friends.