What I'd really like, rather than the original article (for which your criticism is dead on) or the NEWS file, is a summary of the important changes.
> You can find the text file at: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/news/NEWS.24.4
This is org-mode syntax, so you can browse it with org-mode.
You can find the text file at: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/news/NEWS.24.4