We are probably all overthinking this. Homo sapiens has been cooking with fire for at least 100,000 years (conservatively), for much of that time without benefit of anything other than a campfire, which should always be your final option when you need to generate heat and light.

Nearly everyone backpacking eventually comes to value simplicity of meal preparation, leading to the "just boil water and stir" technique. I suspect that most of us come to acquire more than one stove to meet different circumstances.

If I were restricted to just one stove (horrors!), given my present circumstances, where I elect to avoid really cold weather for the most part, I would be perfectly happy with the Trangia. For years it had a place in my SAR pack, primarily because it cooked with an absolute minimum of fuss and bother, allowing one to attend to more pressing matters.

I, too, have punched holes in cans and they work (a Super Cat is amazingly light!), but there is still a higher fiddle factor than the Trangia.

Incidentally, the "stove geek" blog you deride is a very good source of accurate information with respect to stoves - well worth a read. At last count, Hikin' Jim publically admitted to owning 116 stoves - he would agree that he is a geek and proud of it.