I wanted to respond to this in the other thread, but I'll put it here instead for Skalchemist.
Overall, I agree with you. Strictly putting aside game mechanics and fun factor, just going with setting, let's look at this from a powerful corps perspective. If you have a team with top of the line firepower raiding one of your facilities, I think the most appropriate response is a quick cost vs. loss analysis. In other words, will it cost you more (money, influence, reputation, whatever) to let the raided site and/or it's assets go or more to launch enough counter firepower to put a stop to the intruders? Other factors will certainly play a part, but in most cases, profit is the bottom line.
https://snaptube.cam/ 9appsLets look at game mechanics though. In 6e specifically, aoe spells cast even by fairly advanced spellcasters do not come anywhere close to grenades in power or radius. A magic 10 mage casting a fireball, and let's say amped up with +8 drain (4 for 2 damage, 4 to increase the radius to 8m) does 7 damage in an 8m radius. The grenade has a radius of 20m, doing a minimum of 8 damage at the same range as the spell, and much more to poor souls closer. That comparison alone is absurdly out of balance. At the risk of being an ass, I believe so strongly in the indisputable truth of that simple math that I have a very hard time taking anyone who disagrees seriously.
Fun wise, Shadowrun has two traditional styles: trenchcoat and mohawk. Neither is better, both are fun, both fit, it comes down purely to tastes. Setting aside trenchcoat for this conversation, lets focus on mohawk. What do you personally think would be more fun for the players?