Did not read whole thread. I have a late 90s Hardrock with CX tires on it. Its a good semi-road bike, but not a serious road bike. Would be a great commuter in an area with rough but not mountain terrain. I did a 60mi road ride recently and was surprised that when I was caught up with a group and in the draft I pretty much had no gear left. If they wen't any faster I'd be left spinning on my own (I was left on my own shortly after a few big hills anyway 
)
I used to commute on one of my retired mountain bikes. It was an aluminum framed Trek hardtail. Forget the model number, but I put on a set of 1" wide Ritchey slicks and it was great for commuting. Not as fast as my road bike, but perfect for what I needed, especially since I lived west of Seattle at the time and rode in the rain/wet all the time.
I now have only my mountain bike and a cyclocross bike.
Ninja edit: found an old pic. Apparently it was a Trek 6500zx.
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