So, I know I'm a day late, but in terms of the design change I have to agree with linziyi -- the change to the red outline seems as though it will make the red keys less reachable. I know that for me they would be downright painful. It puts the smaller keys in a position that makes that joint probe to roll when you hit them with your thumb.
As for the additional keys, I would much rather have them than not. I love to be able to program macros to override those "extra" keys, whether those macros are OS or program specific. Again, this is largely related to my own needs and my previous inability to stretch to hit key-combos on my own, but so long as the extra keys are out of the way of my normal typing, I see having them included as a bonus feature of the keyboard -- I don't have to take away functionality from existing keys that I DO use to assign my macros, because Ithese extras were included.
