When I first heard about the change to the Challenge, I was reticent. But after thinking about it, and reading what Jeff and The Amazing said in the article, it sounds like the Challenge will have a little more "legitimacy". Instead of being open to any (for lack of a better word) crackpot, it will now be open to people with a "proven history". With the Challenge completely open, it seems (at least by reading the posts by Kramer/Jeff) a LOT of time is wasted going over the same ground - What do you do? How will you demonstrate it? Don't waste our time with theories. Etc.
I also like the idea of the JREF "going after" people.