People who are excited about the trackpoint probably aren't interested in switching to another input method for scrolling. Personally I usually disable the touchpad ASAP on any new laptop I get.
You can scroll by holding down the middle trackpad button with your thumb and pushing the trackpoint in one direction or the other. You can even scroll horizontally this way. This is the main reason for the complaint about the missing middle button.
Why would anybody use a laptop keyboard and no mouse for serious development work? It's always an ergonomic nightmare.
Of course when travelling light you might choose to leave extra stuff at home. But how many of us need to travel light to a new location before starting their daily work?
The middle button (or "mouse button 2") is a legit pointer interface function that many apps use. Besides scrolling, it pastes, opens links in new tabs, and many application specific uses in eg Blender.
(But there's always been a middle button challenged user population subset around so apps have alternative ways of doing these, a bit like terminal apps can be used without a working meta)
I would expect three-finger middle click emulation (which kinda sucks I agree).