Because SmartThings uses free-form code (Groovy), not a contained “rules builder”, making changes to items that can appear anywhere in the vast library of SmartApps is definitely non-trivial. There is no safe “search & replace” (perhaps text substitution might work, but bound to create semantic issues).
Deprecating particularly Capabilities that have been replaced with better named and/or enhanced ones, is an awkward process, since “legacy” code is bound to survive for a long time.
I am, therefore, much more inclined to be concerned that we understand the meaning (definition) of each Capability, both in free form and broken down via the meaning of its Attributes and Commands.
And, I’m still concerned that the SmartThings conceptual construct of “Capabilities” is not very well understood. I admit that verbosity alone is not the solution, so I would like feedback on the currently verbose “Guidelines” that I drafted to try to frame Capabilities in a way that some people may understand better. Refer to: DRAFT: Guidelines for Capabilities (under construction...)