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I am one that likes locations but based on the threads presented, I think something has to be done to at least give options.
However, there are a few flaws that are going to be there as a result of the publishing process regardless of how location is identified.
The biggest problem I see is all the extra content that is placed in a book before and after the main content. In print books, these were the pages that were often identified in Roman Numerals. The problem however is that even if locations were perfect (i.e. a word count or character count type system without the problems of markup), you'd still have flaws from edition to edition. In fact, in print books this is not much of a factor because of those Roman Numerals. Never-the-less, you have the page and font size that can affect print pages. You can have the afterwards that may affect things, and of course graphics and other elements can have an affect.
In the ebook world some (most) of these items have a similar affect and the locations are an improvement on the page numbering scheme of paperback just because they will be more consistent than you might find in paper copies. That improvement is tied to the fact that locations are in small increments, which subsequently leads to the complaint often seen with respect to the number of locations.
When you divide up a book into more pieces, it becomes easier to find where you are at in that book. Of course that is all relative and dependent on the reader, which is why something needs to be fixed.
I still think an ideal solution would be to offer the option to simply locations by essentially shifting a digit (i.e. location 123 is location 12.3). Further, one could set the Kindle to show that same location as 12 rather than 12.3 if they prefer. The result, your location becomes a page number. A simple setting that would require almost nothing to be changed but the view.
As much as I don't mind locations, I wouldn't find that format. I would also like an option to not show locations period or to toggle the info at the base of the document off and on.
However, the one flaw in the thinking of a lot of people here is if they think there will ever be a perfect solution. First and foremost, a perfect solution would require effort beyond Amazon. The publishers would have to ascertain that a book is uniform throughout its various editions, and I just don't think that will ever happen. Whatever numbering scheme is used would have to somehow exclude all preface and afterward items, and I am just not sure how practical that will be except as a long term goal that people and publishers strive towards.
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