Yes, it appears as though the sharpening algorithm has been improved, but from what I can gather, the expert dialog (which I have been using) appears unchanged from version 6.
I almost wonder if one of the settings I have selected is overriding or otherwise conflicting with another. Hard to say for sure.
I'm not baking sharpening into my scans. I use Silverfast Ai Studio 8 to create "raw" 64-bit HDRi scans and then use HDR Studio 8 to process those into "master" files. With version 6, the Auto USM was extremely "intelligent". It would apply sharpening based on output resolution and dimensions. However, I do not know if it was "smart" enough to analyze the image and then customize its settings based on edge detail/frequency.
I'll keep at it, since it would be my guess this is the only way going forward with Silverfast, and (I'm guessing) at some point Silverfast 6 won't be supported on Windows 8, 9, etc.
Going to go ahead and buy your book since I am curious about the different workflows you mention.
Thanks again for your assistance, Mark!