Eh, I don't agree. There just isn't anything interesting in 1.0 to make me want to upgrade. I was honestly more interested in glass panes and stone bricks than Enderdragons.
Same here. I'm perfectly happy with 1.8.1. I played around with some of the 1.9pre, and quite frankly didn't find much enjoyment out of it. IMHO, Minecraft is going in a weird direction with all the magic and such. That's what mods are for if people want that kind of things. From what I've seen in a few forums, it seems that a lot of people suffer from the "upgrade fever" (need to have the latest version ever, be the first to download it, be the first to post a video about it, etc) but then, once the novelty wear off, there's a lot of "Is there any way to downgrade to 1.8.1, I didn't make a backup before I upgraded".
It's a matter of opinion and taste, people like whichever version they like, but to call a 1.8.1 mod a "waste of time" I think is speaking from the wrong end. There's still a huge market for 1.8.1. I have the 1.8.1 mods I enjoy, if they stop being supported, I'll stick to the version I have, and I'll miss out on "new features", but I'll live with that 
Cheers,
realm174