Just to clarify: The way the Instruments worked in v9.6 (when they didn't disappear) was that there was always information in the waypoint Instruments, even if the waypoint was the same as the Final.
Admittedly, sometimes that information was redundant. For example, on the last leg, the distance to waypoint would be the same as distance to Final. That's okay - my eyes go to the left side of my Layout for "leg" data.
The distance data to Final on the right side is for me to think about how much fuel remains for the rest of the flight, especially if I have to deviate. (I realize that ETE to Final would probably be the better reference for fuel. But. like Robert Frost, I tend to think in terms of "miles to go," especially when weather is involved. (More distance to travel, more the wx might change.) Or for making a climb decision - if I'm x miles away from Final, do I really want to climb only to descend in a few miles?)
Similarly, I have an ETE to the next waypoint on the left and an ETA to Final on the right. They're not redundant per se. When on I'm the last leg (where the ETE to Waypoint Instruments now disappears), I could do the math in my head to figure out the ETE to final using current time and ETA. But who wants to do that? The reason I have an ETA to Final is to see if I'll meet appointments and/or be late on arrival. It's not there for ETE to Final.
Yeah, I could add the ETE to Final Instrument. But ironically, that means I have to clutter up my screen to accommodate disappearing Instruments. It wasn't clutter in my minimalistic Layout when Instruments didn't disappear. In a sense, the ETE to Waypoint did double duty and was more efficient.
Anyway, the voting seems about 50 - 50 so far. If iFly gives us the option to make the Instruments persist, then everyone can set things up the way they like and everyone is happy. Seems like a win-win.