Forgive me for being slightly traditionalist but wood floors were installed far more successfully 200/300 years ago than what they are today. just look at an old rectory, church, art gallery etc to see. A lot was to do with natural drying times as opposed to kiln drying for the mass market and there was no mention of DPM, woodchip or that horrific word "floating".
By all means, be traditional - we've been taught the traditional ways of installing wood floors properly too (in The Netherlands where wooden flooring in homes have been main steam for many, many more years than here - and I'm not talking about existing floorboards onto joists as a floor).
But as you also indicate: times are a changing, manufacturing methods are changing, the way house are build are changing and the products themselves are changing.
It's our job, as professionals passionate about wooden floors, to keep up to date with all this not just for own own jobs but so we can keep informing and advising DIY-ers (and others) to the best of our knowledge.
Yes, methods change - even introducing that so-called horrific word of installing a wooden floor floating.
This is all indeed reflected in our book, where we keep hammering on the following fact: it does not matter which installation method you use, AS LONG AS it's done correctly with the correct preparation and the correct materials. And the method used can vary depending on the product bought and the home/room/circumstances it has to be installed in.
The golden olden days that an Oak trunk had 5 - 10 years the time to dry in the most natural way are long, long gone unfortunately. And there will always those who think they can jump on the band wagon of the popularity of any product - like happens with DIY-sheds, carpet companies etc selling wooden floors now.
It then becomes even more important for professionals to warn a DIY-er of the lack of proper information most of these "pile 'm high, sell 'm low" products have - nor any knowledge of a "sales-person" in these sheds.
Rant over
And yes, we might not agree on some things, but we're both trying to help out/advice to the best of our knowledge, based on our experiences.
And hopefully, we will both keep this up
