As you know I'm an SBI fanatic because of how it helped me develop my site. However last week I decided to test out Wordpress myself to see why everyone loves it so much...
I totally see where you're coming from now when you compare back-end functionality. Wordpress IS slicker and smoother. The layout is more attractive and intuitive and it's quicker to build pages than SBI's Block Builder. However I still find my own HTML Editor the best choice of all, and this is compatible with SBI. So I never had the filename problem that plagued Bluedragon so much.
Wordpress has some neat designs that look way more professional than SBI's current templates. To compensate, SBI is running a new design contest (in which we will be taking part!) with a $10,000 first prize. That will surely bring in a raft of fresh new designs to benefit SBIers.
Those seem to be the two main gripes with SBI: uploading files is a little clunky and the templates are out dated. I've been able to overcome both and don't see why anyone else can't, especially when the new templates come into play in the coming weeks.
If this is what people are buying SBI for, then I'd say use Wordpress, no question. But that's NOT what SBI is about! And that's the point we SBI nuts are always trying to bring home. SBI is about building a profitable online business, not building a slick blog that gets no traffic. It was very easy to set up my Wordpress blog but - unless I'm missing some major tutorials - I was offered no information on how to put my blog in front of thousands of people. In contrast, SBI set me up with this attitude from the very start in its day-by-day guide.
If Wordpress can teach me how to get 20,000 visitors per month in less than a year, then I'm all ears. That's what SBI did for me. So to compare the two is a little crazy, especially if you're new to blogging / website building, because ultimately Wordpress does not teach the internet secrets that SBI does... and that is the difference.
I'm not saying you CANT have a great website and high traffic with Wordpress. I'm saying it's a hell of a lot easier with SBI. We just have to look past the aesthetics and get to the real valuable stuff underneath that makes SBI the success that it is.