When Next.js announced Next 13, they announced the release via a very shiny Apple-style keynote. So naturally, the audience oohed and aahed at the new features and QoL fixes we have all been waiting for.
After the event, I flew home and started seeing tweets from Next.js team members with things like Upgrade to 13 it is stable and Next.js 13 is stable, just the app router is in beta. This went on for a while after the release, and it still feels like people are unsure about it.
What should they of done?
Lumping the app router as part of the Next.js 13 release was the right decision; the wrong decision was making the keynote Next 13 and talking entirely about the app router for 10 minutes.
Suppose the Vercel team had done this separately after talking about Next 13 as the final thing. Then, I think people may have understood that the app router is new, relaxed, and not ready for prime time, but upgrading to Next 13 isnt going to explode your application.
I still feel this is still a huge pain point for users of Next 13, and I see it daily trying to explain that we at Clerk support Next.js 13 and also Next.js beta app router.