The switch from Mach3 lathe to mach4 lathe has been painful. Learning another programming language, errors in the screen sets, lack of documentation as to Mach4's model (lua running screen, lua running core, lua running scripts all in separate 'threads' that don't talk to each other nicely), lack of documentation on the detail of the wizards...
Having said that I wouldn't go back to Mach3 lathe. Standardizing on Fanuc style Gcode and macros means there is a lot of information available. The screen editor, once you learn where to find properties and actions and events allows you to customize to your hearts content. Hardly anyone uses Mach4 lathe yet so it is much more difficult to get forum support but thanks to guys like Craig who are willing to go above and beyond their own interests to help teach and explain has allowed me to have made great progress in understanding the new paradigm.
It is unfortunate that we have lost some of the knowledgeable users like Franco who has moved on to Centroid. He was a valuable contributor to Mach3 lathe users but when I looked at Centroid I found that you could not customize their screens in any fashion, they didn't have an API available either so that was not an option for me. It is heartening to see Rich post here with his vast knowledge on CNC lathes. I understand that when you have invested hundreds of hours making things work the way you want the thought of moving to something new means not only redoing everything but learning how to do those same things in a new way. Hope he sticks around.
If, as a hobbyist, all you want to do is run Gcode files then Mach4 does that. The gripe on hardware integration is valid but getting better, but, unless your willing to buy ALL of the hardware, including the machine, as what happens when you be from an OEM, you will always have to configure according to what you have put together. Of course you could always switch over to the Linux based CNC, but then you would have to learn another language, operating system, screen paradigm, hardware setup and configuration and rely solely on user support ;^)
MTCW
RT