I'm thinking it was around the time everyone there were either prisoners, or people hired to look after said prisoners ...

Try to not "get caught up" in random protests.

Would you really expect it to transfer PCM 44k1/16bit over network?

Remember, the "idea" of DLNA is not "to play audio", it is to facilitate media between a server, a browser and a render. It does dictate some very basic media-types to support, which I personally think is a bit silly, but I guess that ensures some limited shared-functionality.

More interestingly, the idea of DLNA is to make using it simple for the non-nerds.
I'd hate to see random-joe-sixpack set up NFS/Samba/FTP/HTTP sharing of media files, and then figure out getting his cellphone to browse these, and sending them to a player (cannot even see how NFS, Samba and HTTP would do that, and FXP is non-trivial). I assume you'll send me to a page showing how to do this in 5 easy steps - meanwhile, I just save files on my Synology, wife turns on the media player and see "Media Server", and then browse to the file she wants and clicks play - no configuring done on the media player (various), only 1 extra step (first time, choose render) on the cellphones and tablet.

There are some very picky players out there - the PS3 is not following the standards (and I'm not sure it is certified either), but the standard is not at fault if the implementation is poor. I'm quite certain that the server-implementation I'm using now has a pile of code to detect browser/render name and adjust the output accordingly; I know TwonkyServer does.
And I don't need to pick up server source code, to see silly flaws - I've sniffed enough network-traffic to see what various products do, and I've written my own flawed source code :)
(note: There are some... uhm ... less-than-optimal things in the standard, and bits too open for interpretation - but these are not what I'm seeing people complain about).

Finally, I'm not trying to defend UPnP and DLNA - they have flaws (in my opinion anyway), but everything I've seen people complain about are implementations (e.g. the person who said it only did 8.3 filenames!). I have a lot of positive experience with DLNA (not counting Sony PS3's version...), and some bad ones, but I chose to stick with it due to a very high WAF* rating and simplicity in setup and use.
Yeah, I could probably figure out getting something supporting SAMBA to run in the living-room, and then figure out SAMBA on my Synology server (it supports it*), but for now using my PS3 works. Likewise in the bedroom, but my Samsung DVD player supports DLNA, and required 0 minutes for setup. I'm sure iPad apps support SAMBA/NFS/FTP/HTTP/AFP, but DLNA works fine the moment the app is installed, and finds my server, ditto for Android apps.
There probably are easy-to-follow steps for SAMBA et al out there, but I installed an app on an Android tablet, then handed it to my now-5-year-old daughter, and 2 minutes later she was watching cartoons using - that is reason enough for me for DLNA to exist.

* WAF: Wife Approval Factor.
* Synology supports Samba, but I'm really only using AFP

1 dollar bill is 0.10922 mm thick (or 0.0043 inches)
A 200 mm stack of 1 dollar-bills would come to 1831 dollars, assuming there is no space between the notes, and that the notes themselves are in near-pristine condition.

The linked G+ post says "August 20th, 2014 at 12:30pm EST to 2:30pm EST", but August 20th, 2014 is during Summer Time/Daylight Saving Time ...

So, is is 12:30pm EST, or 12:30pm EDT ??

Perhaps because those outside of the US knows that some imperial measurements comes in multiple versions depending on the source...

As long as they'd bother note whether it was 5 front-yards wide, or 5 back-yards wide, we can probably convert trivially.
Besides, pretty sure they use american-imperial units in Greece.

If the application (the Media Render) can play these as files, but not via DLNA, then it is a shite application - the source of the data should not matter.

Also, remember, there are 3 components in DLNA:
* Server
* Browser
* Render
The Browser and Render is usually the same, though in the case of XBox One it seems it will only be the render.
If the Browser or the Server doesn't understand the media you're trying to play ("render"), and fail to send correct MIME type to the player (or just refuse to send anything?), then THAT application is shite, and the player may be just fine. This is the 1 really weak spot in DLNA: You can have the best server, and a shite render, and the result is shite - you can also have a shite server and a great render, and the result is also...shite.
But, this doesn't mean DLNA itself is bad - the protocols are just fine from what I've seen (Though I've mostly looked at the underlying UPnP standard, as described in books from Intel), and what I've seen as the most-common issue are bad implementations, like the PS3.

The core is pure eezo, and this has caused a mass-effect field to form, significantly increasing the mass of the asteroid...

What?

"Truth in Advertising" - it is an interesting concept, and I'd love to see it applied some day...

Technically, yes, I guess - but then Netflix et al can go on a campaign to get users to reject Comcast's offerings, or change protocol.

P2P is stigmatized though, so it would be easier for ISPs to get away with saying something about it, as opposed to saying that "you cannot use the network excessively for watching video". P2P also have some rather aggressive network-options, where you'll have hundreds of connections, and easily use tens of megabits per second, while Netflix and YouTube and other similar services tend to be a single (or 2?) connections, and single-digit megabit transfers, and time-limited (you don't watch Netflix 24/7).
No, I'm not trying to justify Comcast's behavior, but throttling P2P protocols is likely to have the best impact on their service, and likely the place they'll be most-likely to "get away with it".

Irrelevant - if T-Mobile's T&C says you cannot use the service for bittorrent or other P2P protocols, and the T&C was available at the time the customers signed up, T-Mobile is fully within its remit to throttle these.

Too far, man!
Get pr0n site to offer their HD streams for free on IPv6 (for still for-pay on IPv4), and there'll be a steady stream of calls to ISPs for information on how to get IPv6 ...

(This assumes there is an interest in HD Pornography - no idea)

PS3 supports DLNA "just fine" (there are a few stupidities and flaw in how it is implemented, though).

That there is a lack of support for specific file-formats (MKV and some types of MP4 most notably) has nothing to do with DLNA, and everything to do with Sony just not implementing any kind of support for those specific formats.

If you get the result that some files play sometimes, I suspect you have a "low end" NAS (Synology? ARM/MIPS processor?) and it is trying to transmux the files, but either failing this or failing to do it fast enough for the PS3's timeout.
Try PS3MediaServer on your computer; sorry, no suggestions for your NAS outside of TwonkyServer, which will normally not do any transcoding/transmuxing.

In my case AFP has been the go-to solution for the last 5-6 years (or longer? ..)