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Lifetime rating means nothing right now. It is just a way to compare yourself with others. Would like to point out that FNMs are equal to the SCG circuit as it stands right now. That cannot be right.

I read that entire article hoping that it would be a new form of Player Rewards. I was disappointed.

I don't mind this change. At the very least it will get a few of my friends back at FNMs instead of sitting on their bye-awarding ratings.
The only thing that I do not like about this, is the name... Seems like something less childish could have been thought up...

All in all, I think this is an amazing change. I will start a long winded story below, but just a few point:
1.) This is awesome. I fully support a system that promotes playing rather than not playing.
2.) I think this is unfairly weighted to FNMs over weekly drafts/events. Many Magic players have social lives that generally take over their Friday Nights. I've had issues with the focus being on Friday in general, as I think it promotes a isolation of players from their non-player friends. "Punish" is probably too strong of a word, but I feel like this system almost punishes people for playing on other days of the week. We have an extremely competitive group of players that draft on Thursdays who have non-Magic social lives that causes committments on Fridays. Can't we enjoy Magic and have social lives as well? Magic shouldn't have to be your sole social life resource, in fact, it shouldn't.

My tale of ratings woe:

This ratings system sounds exciting. It may be too late to save me, but it could help others. I was a victim of ratings sitting. Understand, my rating wasn't amazing, but enough to get me some Byes at some GPs, etc. I learned quickly the role of variance and how punishing it is at casual more casual tournaments with players with much lower ratings. I recall going 3-1 or 4-1 and losing points. For the most part, it wasn't worth playing. However, when I had a fully powered deck, I would throw caution in the wind and lose some points. It was a cost of having fun.
However, I drifted out of the game, but made friends with fellow players. We played some casual games, but they tried to convince me to play in FNMs, which, are usually T2. As many know, getting back into the game through T2 can be extremely difficult due to T2 card costs over the last few years. But, with my rating as it was, to go 2-2 at such an event would be devastating to my rating. So, I sat out over and over again. Call me foolish, but I wanted to protect my rating, afterall, if I was going to get back in the game, I still wanted my GP Byes, etc. Well, I sat out too long and basically fell out of the game. Instead of playing a deck with Jace or whatever the current $40+ 4x rare was, I sat out, and then more or less left the game. I managed to protect my byes, but it cost me leaving the game. Foolish? Probably. Stubborn? Definitely. But from what I've heard, it happens a lot.
Over the last few months I've been doing some drafting. Maybe I'll be back, maybe not. Magic was a big part of my life that I really enjoyed. Things are very different now, different priorities, etc. But, if anything will have me back playing at a constructed event with a half-complete deck, this new system will do it.
Kudos to the DCI and friends. I hope this new system works well and is a huge success. Hopefully it keeps people playing and not sitting out.

At first glance , this system is silly.  I did play in a couple of Pro Tours, Grandprix and one Worlds. However I never actually achieved notable results.  But......  I play since 1994....  This means I am way up in the lists, I even almost make it to worldwide top 500.  When in reality I am more like around the top 5000 (or these days top 10,000 , as my level of play has dropped) 

I recognize more names like me. Old timers that kept playing. So take any life time list with a big grain of salt.    However, you can click on the ´Professional´ Tab.  Then you filter out people like me, so that gives a better result. (although such a list will still be full of  retired pros)

Anyway.  Being a lvl 43 or 44 won+t give me anything.  As I understand invites and other advantages will always be based on seasonal results and not on life time results.   So being good as this game in 2003 won´t give anybody anything in 2011.

Al together, after some thought  I kinda like  this system.  I´ll give it a chance.