Jester David
Hero
WotC isn't D&D.There is more than one way to do things. And WOTC as a company has done incredibly well. In the midst of a recession, while competition like Mattel and much of the other portions of Hasbro were shrinking, WOTC managed to grow. I think they have done well enough as a company to have earned some room to try something new out. The hyperlinked PDF idea sounds great to me, way better than a standard PDF.
Again, 5% of the people at the company are D&D (and half of that is licensing). But that generates less than 5% of the profit of WotC. Estimates put the revenue of MtG at $250 million per year. This year is likely a banner year for D&D and it's likely producing less than $5 million. That's like 2% of the money of Magic.
D&D is an afterthought. I'd be very surprised if WotC knew how to handle the game, because it's so completely different than the product that makes them 98% of their money. Learning anythingabout D&D would be time spent not making Magic better.