Wow, who pissed in your people's Wheaties? It wasn't Nemestchek, OK? They advanced a product, plain and simple. You all remind me of how my grandpa sounded when automatics were introduced. If a stick was fine for him, it should be fine for everybody, now and forever!
Take a few hours to learn one of the new layouts and the shortcut keys they assigned. I think you'll see the superior logic in the newer layouts. Then go create your own workspace, or a standard for your office, that includes the best of the old and the best of the new. Me, I like the new way layers, classes, sheets, viewports, and saved views are all accessible with one shortcut key.
As for titleblock w/out border - 1) still use border tool, just shut off the border part after inserting the titleblock, or 2) do your titleblock the old fashioned way. I used to use a titleblock symbol w/ text records. The Drawing Border/Titleblock tool takes this only one step further and embeds the same exact thing into a plug-in, making the editing a lot easier.
Instrument Key - once generated, just go into the group and delete the rectangles. Couldn't be much easier.