As someone who cares a lot about font display and typography in general I sympathize with these frustrations, but I’m pretty sure nothing was done by editing the font config file that isn’t easier for most users to accomplish through the Appearance Preferences GUI (Fonts tab … but then click ‘details’).

The effectiveness of subpixel rendering varies depending on the monitor and, to some extent, the way the font happens to line up against the pixel grid. On both of my computers, it works beautifully, a major boost to the horizontal resolution. I’ve seen that headache-inducing aura on some screens, but people who complain that subpixel rendering is unequivocally a nuisance should consider that their hardware may not represent the typical experience (i.e., no, your eyes aren’t more sensitive than ours). (Disclaimer: I don’t mean to suggest the author thinks this.)

I find myself occasionally switching between no-hinting and slight-hinting. Neither is quite right. What would be great (for subpixel users anyway) would be something like “vertical hinting only.” Using slightly larger font sizes than is standard can make things look a whole lot better, if you’re willing to adjust to it. The more recent MS fonts are of excellent quality and carry over beautifully.