I use TP in 1.1.x for more than 3 years !!!!!!! its a great portal with a few bugs that i have used to them
i have installed simplePortal in smf 2 rc1 , seems to work great until now, i haven`t fully set it up yet ....
As for SMG main page, i like it the way it is, of cause there always space for something better
just make it fully customizable if you ever make it