Yes, I agree, it depends on your priorities. When I was living in Thailand, pre 2009, I was coming and going for 11 years, mostly on 30 day visa exempts. Only ever got three two month tourist visas and one twelve month 'O' multiple entry, so for me doing the protocol requirements of the DTV., would be no problem.
Yes, but with the one year 'O', you have to show 800k THB in a Thai bank account in your name, or twelve monthly deposits of at least 65k in a Thai bank account in your name. The DTV visa you only need to show the equivalent of 500k THB and it can be in a bank account in any country, doesn't need to be in a Thai bank account and the DTV costs equivalent of 10,000 THB for five years. There's other caveats to it, like getting a 180 day extension, then having to leave and re-enter to start the 180 days all over again.
Depends where you apply I believe, some Embassies, consulates only want to see it in the applicants account, not bothered where it comes from. I've read other comments that say different, but with it being fairly new, it's open to opinions.