Well, the original 'new' S-Type had a Ford box, which was notoriously unreliable, in typical Ford auto style.
What I did notice in particular is that the Focus had stupid amounts of 'creep' at idle, whereas the S-Type appeared to be much more intelligent in this respect.
Many of the Sillyspeed complaints (aside from questionable reliability) seem to stem from users keeping their 'toe in' when changing. You do need to lift slightly as you change, in manual mode, and you can 'sense' when it's going to change in auto mode and slightly back off to smooth things. This only happens at partial loads, though - if you have your foot flat to the floor, the (up)changes are amazing.
Down changes are something that makes you feel like a driving god, though, as the ECU gives a perfect 'blipped' downchange, even on full throttle.