No one but Leica really knows why they chose to release the delayed shutter cock now rather than earlier. It might be hardnosed marketing. Or it might be that the code had to be adapted to work with both the old and the new shutter, and the one staff person who knew how to do that was busy with other things. Or both.
My own take is that not releasing the "discrete shutter" code for M8s was probably a reasonable business decision
at the beginning, since it might have hurt M8.2 sales. But it's an equally good decision to release it now.
Those who bought the M8.2 to get the discrete shutter, who might have simply upgraded the firmware in their original M8 if they could, have made their decision. Owners of the original M8, who (like me) decided that the M8.2 wasn't a sufficent upgrade for the price, have long since spoken by not buying the newer model. We can now get the new firmware, be happy, and post positive remarks on Internet forums, thereby spreading good "buzz" for Leica.
I have much the same attitude about a lens-type menu for uncoded lenses. Coding old lenses is probably a significant source of revenue for Leica, and they don't want to give that up. But there will come a point, probably soon, when most people who would have sent their lenses to Leica for coding will have done so.
The rest of us will have made other arrangements: Live without it, get Millich adapters, do our own coding by hand. At that point, it makes sense to release a lens menu in the firmware, with a disclaimer that the best results happen with Leica-coded lenses. Leica loses nothing, and they gain goodwill and positive buzz.
(How do you say "hint, hint" in German?)
--Peter