Though I personally never cared much for the future timelines, but I see the merit in giving writers a chance to work in whatever milieu they want. It promotes a broad spectrum of work, and also a choice for aspiring Refs to draw from...
I never liked the Rebellion becasue it seemed to finite a concept (The Chinese Warlord Era would be a nice place to visit on some backwater, but 24/7? Also the degree of disruption presented made it unrealisitic for me, considering that most characters from most planets ultimately would not have the infrastructure to go beyond rock throwing orperhaps fishing grubs out of a log with a twig...
As to the Virus, that seemed a little too "Terminator 4" for me to enjoy. (Good Machines serve, bad Machines get unplugged or a bottle of scotch poured in them...)
It also smacked of Siembeda's Mechanoids (barf! where man's machines/creations get sad because they are abandoned by mankind, and turn to moider becuase of their new hurt feelins...)
I know its set up different than that in the timeline, but yknow what I'm on about... it sort of reminds me of hoe Grandma Gushiddan was afraid of her remote control because it shot "Invisible Rays" a sort of technofear...
The Butlerian Jihad timeline in Dune also springs to mind, which makes an effort to explain why machines always seem to want to kill you at some point... but also falls a little short...
The Killer Robot has been a staple forever, but doesn't hold up to logic when you really look at it... it would've made a great set of adventures, but count me out of that future... NOmad from Star Trek, HAL, Saturn 3, ad infinitum...
I actually ran a virus type CT game back in the day, but altered... where a world Computer got sentience by accident, began to "spread the word" to its brother machines, ultimately leading to a "Red Zone" Sector (after a dramatic human mass exodus)that housed a budding machine race to rise among the organic ones... the machines were contained in the sector by a fearful Coalition of Sophonts, but when the machines next appeared, they sought to become part of the larger picture, rather than just kill everyone... It is much more logical to create than destroy... as every good robot should know...
I must've read too much Arthur C. Clarke as a youth, or perhaps am naive, as I always try to consider that humans would smarten up after many centuries of development... and learn to avoid both Viruses and Rebellions... it is important to remember that striking a balance is key... one can have conflict without having to throw the baby out with the bathwater, what?