Well, “simple to use” is relative, isn’t it? I mean, if MT supported rewriting out of the box, with just a checkbox in MT, then you wouldn’t have nearly as much problem with this. WordPress does it with a simple radio checkbox, why doesn’t Movable Type?

I agree that the idea of using the last hunk of the URL sucks, however, rel-tag was designed to work with existing implementations. The tag implementation was basically an informal one developed by Technorati and others back in the day. The rel-tag microformat simply adopted existing practice. And this is what microformats are generally all about, taking existing examples of ways of doing things on the web and then semi-formalizing them. Thus the widest audience is reached easily.

Still, there needs to be alternative implementation, I agree. But “simple and easy” isn’t a fault with the microformat, because for other platforms, it pretty much is simple and easy.