My own problem with it is -as you might expect- ideological.
Although I did once feel the bad vibe on my very skin, when
I held a large Palatino Italic sort in my palm.

hhp

Am I missing something?

Pretense.

Hrant:

Ideological? How so?

James:

Well I admit I do like the face for sentimental reasons. But perhaps that's because it worked so well to begin with. Perhaps I haven't read enough bad Palatino. The Linotron version used by Puffin Books in the mid-80s was quite charming and very sturdy. And in recent years digital Palatino has become even more useful (for those who want it) with the addition of some nice extras.

We know that Zapf didn't intend for Palatino to be used as a text face, but it seems to work. And although Aldus might be more suited to text at smaller sizes (below 10 points), it certainly lacks the charm and elegance of Palatino.

I guess people have simply seen too much of it over the years.

It just feels wrong to exhibit [so much] of
the pen, especially in a metal parallelepiped.

hhp

it [Palatino] doesn't seem to suffer from the problems characteristic of metal types translated to digital form.

Could this be because the original designer not only oversaw the translation to digital, but continues to work on the typeface to this day?

Christopher:

Indeed! I believe Mr. Zapf is past the ripe old age of 90.

We know that Zapf didn't intend for Palatino to be used as a text face, but it seems to work.

That was true of the old metal Palatino. Palatino has changed a lot since.

Here's a link to a scan of the original Palatino. Note the tall ascenders, the high crossbar of "A", and the high curves of BDPR.

Satyagraha:

Excellent sample. Thank you.

The differences are not insignificant. Broader, more pronounced stokes, the missing bars on the E and F. Such an elegant lowercase f. Quite beautiful, actually.

Yes, I think it's much better than the current version, which I've never been a fan of (for non-ideological reasons). The "p" and "q" are also beauties, and I think I like the weird "w", too. The numerals are yummy, though osf "6" and "9" are plain wrong. I don't know what to think of the "g", though.

Er, would it make me a criminal if I made a digital interpretation (no tracing, of course) of this?

The taper on Y's right arm sure goes in an unexpected direction.
The figures look rather casually written next to the digital version.

The now defunct foundry H. Berthold had made a digital version of the original Palatino, still available today. See this thread for more information:

http://typophile.com/node/65198