Salute!
Great points, TD, about the commercial heavy move to FBW, even with a very limited mechanical connection or two.
First, the mechanical stuff would be the backup, heh?
Second, no question about degree of maintenance on the very old systems with pulleys, pistons, tubes, cables, jackscrews, and so forth.
Third, with FBW you can control each surface separately because you don't have cables and such routed to them from a single control wheel/column/stick, This can really help if you incur physical damage from hail, birdstrike or have a fire/hydraulic line rupture and so forth. Amazing what you can do, and just look at my picture on profile bio or the 610 thread.
Lastly, the control laws can realy make the ride smoother and at the samw time let the pilot yank to the limit in order to get evrything the plane can give you without departing or stalling.
Gums sends...