I guess the statement "simple task" really comes down to your operational definition of "simple". Relative to doing anything even remotely similar on a Windows machine, this is a very, Very, VERY simple task, but you are right, by Apple standards, where such actions are typically a single step, the 3 step process for deleting images in Photo Stream is anything but simple.
It is almost always resonable to want a company to add features and upgrades to their products, and this is no exception. I am in line with everyone else here who is wanting the feature. Is it desired, most certainly. Is it needed for Photo Stream to function and work perfectly as it was designed and planned to work, not at all. That is all that I have ever stated here- the difference is in "wanting" a feature, which we all "want", vs. "needing" that feature. It is no doubt a want that is high on everyone's list.
Allowing this simple ability to delete individual photos will not stop all fo these thread, and will only add to them, as there are many aspects that such a feature will not solve, or not solve easily, and where such a feature will open up even larger "privacy matter" and "security" issues. As a programmer I know that the task being asked for, and that people are seeing is "easy" really is a multi-layered problem, where solving one issue opens up two or three more. Here are a few things to think aobut:
1) Many of the devices that sync to Photo Stream are not always online. As such, deleting a single image from Photo Stream will not have any effect on the other devices that have already downloaded that image. They are already on the device. If you have any doubts of this, go to your settings and turn on Airplane mode, then go to icloud.com and delete all the images and your photo stream. Guess what, they are still there on your other device, so deleting anyting out of the stream, such as the single image deletion people are asking for, has no effect on images already sent to the other devices. Another mechanism needs to be developed, which is not currently part of Photo Stream, that looks to the Photo Stream server any and every time that an iOS or iPhoto device comes online. Many are thinking, yes, that is exactly what we need, and what we have been calling out for. Really? If so, you just opened up a world of hurt, and threw security out the window, as item #2 to think about will point out.
2) If deleting a single image, a series of images, or all images on Photo Stream grants the server the ability and right to delete them on all of your devices, which is what people here are really asking for, you just put your personal photo library at risk. When someone gains access to your account, either through you setting your phone down, loosing your phone (which is one of the scenarios put forth here as a security concern), your kids deleting the images accidentally on your Apple TV, your account being hacked, or any other number of ways that this could happen, all of your photos taken within the last 30 days are wide open to exploit. Nothing like the kids accidentally deleting all your photos from that great Hawaiian vacation you took three weeks ago, or some coworker deleting all of those photos from the wedding you attended last week, or a hacker deciding that your photos of your visit to your relatives just did not meet the demands of their critical eye as far as their composition, so they deleted them all. Just like that, all images, on all of your devices are gone.
You say that such a feature will end this debate and put an end to all of these threads. Call me a betting man, but my money is on people coming to these forums and really, really complaining that Apple added a delete feature to Photo Stream that allowed people to delete images from Photo Stream, and have them deleted on other devices, leaving them with no way, and zero percent chance of every seeing those photos again.
I sure hope I do not see any people in this forum later complaining that all their photos got deleted once they get what they are asking for in their posts within this forum. If I do, I will be rolling around on the floor, laughing my A-- off.
Think twich about what you are asking for here. A wise person once said "be careful what you ask for, you might just get it."
Since so many here feel that they have better solutions than the Apple engineers, and crowdsourcing the solution is the obvious way to go in solving these matters, I would love to hear how those wishing for this single step, single image delete feature, propose a simple, single step solution to protect their photos on all devices once they get that one button delete add on they are crying about. Any ideas? Again, the solution has to be a single step, one button solution, since that is what everyone here is clamering for. I would love to hear how your one button solution will solve and close this can of worms that gets opened here.