It’s appreciated 
I don’t doubt there are a number of people unhappy with the decision, and quite frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a high overlap with people who use these forums. But you also have to keep in mind that we have millions of users, and are looking at aggregate playback stats. So yes, there are at least 444 people who dislike the idea of HTPC mode going away, but you have to view this in the context of the actual use being a tiny fraction of overall playbacks (and decreasing).
I’m saying this as a user myself (remember, I was the guy who first ported XBMC to macOS and who loved using Mac Mini as an HTPC). But in this day and age with HDR content and massively improved streaming devices, I use the Apple TV and Shield and don’t look back.
Another positive spin on it is that we’ll have more resources to ensure playback on those platforms is as good as it could possibly be; we’ve invested a lot recently to ensure we’re using mpv on iOS/tvOS side, which was a massive upgrade. And android has its own advanced player based on ExoPlayer.
Will streaming devices ever “beat” a custom-built NUC with the right firmware and graphics drivers and latest Kodi in terms of customizability and codec support? Probably not, but for the vast majority of users, they are a much better choice all around.
