Personally, as an "early adopter" I want to see mesh succeed. I've tried a mesh tee and two pairs of mesh pants, and, along with the corresponding alpha layers, the've fit with very minimal changes to my avi. However, based on this thread and others, mesh is pretty much DOA for clothing until LL implements shape sliders.
As for people not wanting to use mesh because so many are reluctant to move to viewer 3, every program has minimum requirements, and as the program evolves, those requirements change, either adapt or die. If you "can't afford to upgrade", eventually your computer will become obsolete. Ask for a 2nd hand video card for Christmas if nothing else. I would've killed LL V1 a long time ago, leaving TPV to pick up the slack if they wanted.