Lens Calibration/Micro adjustments

I have been following this thread on Naturescapes 
It seems quite normal now for people with the latest high end camera bodies to have to use the micro adjust feature to 'tune' their lenses in to get a sharp image, This is something you never thought about in the days of film, Buy the camera,stick in a roll of velvia and off you go, I don't know what's changed but i don't really see that its a forward move, More like taking the load off of the camera manufactures and putting the onus on the photographer and when you read your manuals the manufacturers don't even recommend using the feature-So you have spent $5000 on a top of the range all singing all dancing dream body only to be unhappy with the sharpness of your images-you have 3 main options
1.Send it back and hope the next one is better
2,Spend hours playing around with the micro adjustment feature
3.Send all your equipment in to have it calibrated by the manufacturer which is going to cost big time
One problem i see with the MA feature is when calibrating a zoom lens, I had mine done when i had the MK3 problems and my zooms were showing to be front focusing at one end and back focusing at the other, This can only be rectified in a workshop with the right equipment
Reading the thread it seems that Nikon are a bit more stringent when it comes to AF calibration out of the box and i must admit i haven't needed to check my AF as my images are very sharp,Saying that no company/Product is perfect and i am sure there are people out there who have their fair share of problems with Nikon etc, Some of the guys on the thread i know shoot both Canon and Nikon so there isn't any fanboy stories
I thought that the latest bodies with high MP may be showing up lens issues but high MP bodies have been around for a while so there shouldnt be any issues there
There are now some products appearing on the market that allow you to check your AF so that if its slightly out you can correct it using the MA function-see lensalign product
All this puts more weight onto the togs shoulders as well as his pocket, I am sure Canon and Nikon don't like having their reputations tarnished by people on forums saying that they cant get a sharp image out of their new cameras, I don't think they want loads of equipment shipped to them for recalibration even if they do charge for it, But it seems that it may be something that we have to live with and to me in this sense digital has taken a step backwards

Dave