This is typical example of these so called "intellectuals" (ie college professors) making up stuff and changing perfectly good stuff to justify their existence and importance. I mean, if they didn't change the code significantly every few years, what would SK Ghosh and company talk about at all the conferences?
So now they confuse things even more by changing the wind loads calculated to ultimate load versus working load. The industry, particularly air conditioning equipment manufacturers, hasn't even caught up with the '05 requirements yet. Almost every day, I have issues with our mechanical guys saying they can't find rooftop units that meet the new rooftop equipment pressures in ASCE7-05. Now they'll really be confused by ultimate pressure versus 'we tested it at 150 mph...." Fortunately, it will be several years before it comes into effect, at least here in Florida.