Interesting take, care to divulge any further?
Oh, just my observation of 3.5, and 4.Essentials. Both were certainly better written games that were backwards compatible with their core systems, but both caused confusion and frustration.
3.5 because the changes could have been released as free errata. Having to buy 3 new core books made a lot people angry, not to mention it made their 3.0 books drop in value instantly. And even though it was backwards compatible, customers still avoided 3.0 product, which caused problems for store owners. In hindsight, 3.5 probably caused more problems then it did good.
4.Essentials tried to avoid that by releasing new core books that were in "addition" to the 4E core. Once people got to looking at them though, it was pretty obvious this was 4.5 due to better designed classes and better monster math. This caused some confusion on what to do with them. Ditch the old books and just play this "edition"? Use both for characters, but use the updated Monster Manual? Again, it probably would have been better to not release them at all.
When a new edition comes out, I think it's important that it be obvious why a new edition is needed. Like with Pathfinder, in no way does the new edition devalue my 1st edition books because the systems are so different. No hurt feelings.
With "One", if the changes are going to be minor and the only reason to purchase it is to be let into the Beyond playground, I think there is going to be a lot of unhappy people.
Just some thoughts off the top of my head...