Your initial post did not sound like you were seeking any "help", just providing a status and why you weren't going to be using an Almond+.
Compatible Sensor List
https://wiki.securifi.com/index.php/List_of_compatible_sensors_-_Almond%2B_2014Incompatible Sensor List
https://wiki.securifi.com/index.php/List_of_incompatible_sensors_-_Almond%2B_2014Having developed IOS and Android Apps, I just can't get worked up about N support at this point, I'm using in excess of 1200 apps between the 2 OS's, 300+ on Android and N has had an impact on many of them, particularly those that do more than display a webpage and do a little db i/o. I am excited about a few features offered in N and have to work some of the development stuff, but lack of current N support is not a show stopper for me. imho, a vendor stating that N will be supported upon release is not only an acceptable response, it is not at all unusual in nature.
Individually activating lights upon entering a room is a pain, I get that. That's why I use motion sensors and voice response systems personally, it's been a couple years since I've actually used individual switches, virtual or physical. Certainly adding your lights to a scene should be supported, sending in logs would help with that.
Yes, I have used, installed and maintained everything from high end commercial automation systems to many of the other market offerings in the US not to mention X10 going back decades. For what I consider "essential" home automation functionality, controlling of lights, 120vAC devices, timing, triggering, monitoring not to mention security, I get as much functionality out of my A+ as folks with $10,000 custom built systems. Not only that but I found most folks are not leveraging what they have available in the first place. Just as an example, I define lighting scenes by time of day, activity and person using the A+ yet I'll have folks who have dropped lots of money to turn on a bunch of lights with a single click on a phone and that's it. I've not gone the route of temperature changing bulbs, rather went with dimmable bulbs initially and have added in HUE color changing bulbs to accent. So my experience has been very positive in this area. Beyond Cree and Hue, I've used a bunch of Wink bulbs/hub etc and have been rather disappointed in the hardware, reliability and functionality of that product line. So much so that I've removed all of it.
I don't follow your point on defining "over and over" again with individual bulbs as a Rule wouldn't help you with turning them on/off wrt to manually controlling a "scene". If it were even driven, I get it, but wanting to manually control a group of bulbs for on/off or temp change, yep that's a scene thing.
Did notice that you were on the forum asking a couple questions back in Feb 2015, not sure what devices were giving you trouble back then and still today beyond the lights. I haven't gone the OSRAM light route for lots of reasons, went with the HUE option and have been pretty happy with that. Have multiple Schlage locks working without issue for more than a year. The NEST, well I didn't go that route, went with a Centralite for the price point and everything I've read has said, leave the NEST as a stand alone if you want to leverage what the NEST has to offer. Yes you can do some manual control stuff but if you want to leverage the "learning", leave it stand alone for the most part.
End of Life is end of life, no longer supported, period. But that's a techno-symantical thing, to answer your question, Yes, I think A+ will be supported in the near term with firmware updates. It was supported when the Almond 2015 came out and I expect it will continue to be supported as the DIYers will push from the grass roots side to drive the primary feature sets that will be rolled forward. Not until there is a major change in the underlying software methodology or a significant chipset limitation, do I see that changing. Almond 4/5/6, different story.
The newer Vera+ works alright but for sure has it's issues. Given the few bits of HA hardware you've shared, I doubt you'd run into many PITA situations. A couple locks, lights and a thermostat are not approaching any levels of complexity for implementation, they are either supported or not. In fact, not sure what you would do with HA just using those devices beyond lighting scene or three and that could easily be handled with the native app. If you are looking to grow your HA setup, then I would dig more deeply into compatible devices. The WiKi link I shared provides more info than the general website link you posted.
Again, no way did I read your initial post as a call for assistance but rather as an assessment and indictment of the product. What you term as a "glaring" deficiency based on such a limited HA implementation I see far differently given the diversity of products I've installed and have working from a number of different manufacturers. I have several residences using the A+ for far more than the scenario you've describe and have been well pleased with the recent updates. If I had a "goal" for this online forum, it would be to help others achieve a similar level of satisfaction. In you case specifically I would work to;
1) get your locks supported completely
2) get your lights supported in scenes
The whole NEST thing I'm going to step back from because I'm not yet convinced that folding it into the A+ management side of things is the way to go.