ok i don't think you can say brakes upgrades are pointless but i'm willing to bet most people don't have a very good understanding of what you're trying to accomplish with brake upgrades.

for the most part brake upgrades won't decrease your stopping distance unless you cannot lock your wheels with your stock brakes.

the primary advantage of brake upgrades is their increased thermal capacity. aftermarket brakes will not fade as easily.

the biggest misconception people have is regarding pedal response. being able to lock your brakes by simply tappping your pedal is NOT a good thing. yes it 'feels' better b/c it feels like it grabs more. this's the same misconception people had with pedal response and an oversized TB.

additionally most aftermarket braking systems do not maintain the stock braking bias. yes you can lock up the front very easily. however b/c the rear brakes have not been brought close to their locking point you lose much of your overall braking capacity. many aftermarket kits will in fact INCREASE stopping distance b/c of this.

but people like it b/c it feels 'grabbier'

there's a lot more to good brakes than big calipers and rotors

http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/brakebiasandperformance.htm

so no - brake upgrades are not pointless, but a lot of people don't really understand what a good aftermarket braking system should be.

*edit*
oh yea if your aftermarket system doesn't maintain the stock braking bias your ABS will be quite confused and not help much at all in an emergency...

http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/abs_bigbrake_122701.htm

-marc