"We were unable to learn how to use TypeScript properly, so let's abandon gradual typing and suffer a net loss in productivity over the longer term."
Angular.2 has been in beta for years. And when it went out of beta it basically became something else. This is not a good thing. It's normal for teams to be excepting at least some level of stability in the library they are using. And now that Angular.X pretends to be using semver, it's going to be even worse.
The Angular team doesn't care about stability or lacked vision when they started 2, but a stable API is a valid expectation for a developer team.
But it's not surprising as frameworks with huge API surfaces like ExtJS have pulled the same trick for years, with the same results. Their downfall is more the consequence of API breaking than anything else.
It's very easy to blame vendors when it's your own poor decision making that got you in the mess to begin with.
If i rely on a beta product, i don't expect a complete rewrite of the API when a stable version is released. That's exactly what happened, several times with Angular. Now you can't have it both ways as a vendor. You can't expect people to try out your product and test it in a professional setting then change everything at the last moment either. Or you're saying developers shouldn't even checkout Angular until it is out of beta. If that's what you're saying then the vendor shouldn't expect broad adoption.
Although I get what people are saying about Beta products, the truth is that different vendors use the term "Beta" with different levels of precision, and thus should not typically be trusted not to pull the rug out from under you in some way if they haven't firmly committed to stability.
But seriously, take a bet on a hip framework and it comes good (like react), good for you . But you can't cry when frameworks change API wildly when they clearly have a beta label on them.
Yes, using a small lib will get you initially there, but then there will be a full rewrite of that too, or it'll become completely abandoned, etc.
Angular at least has some idea of upgrade path.