I'm sorry if you took offense. Your arguments are valid ones -- they are borne of wisdom over time that makes you more risk averse. Early adopters throw this kind of caution to the wind because they see promise and are looking for a competitive edge. Instead of waiting for a tool to mature, they help it mature. It's not an insult that you've matured, you should take it as a kind of a compliment.

But the 10 years ago you wouldn't have taken your advice. 10 years ago CSS was not ubiquitous. There were not good tools. The ecosystem was just getting going. And yet somehow the tradeoff was worth it for you.

Technical designers learn sass quickly. They like it and so the tools will follow. The ecosystem will grow. Already Sass experience is considered a plus in job reqs for many forward-thinking startups. Sass and Compass will mature in the next few years, and you're objections will fall by the way side and a few years after that, instead of having a competetive advantage, you'll be at a competitive disadvantage by not using something like it.

I don't know if Sass and Compass will ultimately be the tools of choice for generating CSS, but I'm certain that there will be tools like them.