I don't know if you noticed this, but 3.5 is kind of a done deal So if you're hoping for some kind of epiphany on WotC's part regarding Frostburn upon reading posts in this or any other thread, I have unfortunate news for you: they have their solution, which is to make things more explicitly rules-light, i.e. 5e.
Also, I agree with you that the rule is bad - or at least that there are valid interpretations of the text that have bad results, and that there are valid interpretations of the text that have less bad results, the net result of which is still bad since there isn't even consensus on which to use.