Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Offense mildly taken on behalf of old-school types who are experienced players who like variety of play rather than variety of mechanics...Then right from the beginning, the reductionists, children, new players and Old Schoolers can have their simple Red Box of four races, four classes and few options; while the experienced players, teenagers, the 4thers and 3rders, and the lovers of variety can have some interesting options from the beginning without needing to wait six months for a Supplement. The Advanced Book can be 500 pages like Pathfinder, because people who only want a slim book can buy the 60 page Starter Book.
That said, this does raise an interesting question: as 5e is supposed to be so very modular, how many modules will they try to cram into the initial PH? Or, will 5e perhaps be released as a whole bunch of smaller books simultaneously, one with the basic core game and the rest with modular tack-ons grouped in a sensible way - the Combat Module book, the Dungeoneers Module book, the Social Module book, the Class book, the Race book, etc.
Reason I say this is because if the initial PH is 500 pages of which a given DM might only use 200, how much would this impact sales?
Lan-"I can't believe that over 4% of the voters do not want Human as a core class"-efan