Maybe this a dumb question, but I've been researching the RTW options for a trip, and I fail to see the point of the Global Explorer. It costs more, has mileage restrictions, and offers even fewer stopovers than the Oneworld Explorer. Is the ability to use a greater array of airlines the only advantage?

Yes -- this also means there are some cities which can only be reached by GE and not by OWE. Otherwise GE is double the cost per mile for a fully utilized OWE.

That's what I was suspecting. For example I want to include Kathmandu on my RTW, but it's not reachable via a oneworld member. Still far cheaper to just buy a cheap seperate ticket from a nearby oneworld stopover city in my case. I'm having a hard time visualizing a situation where the GE makes financial sense for someone.

South Pacific islands is one example (and J fares there can run in the thousands of dollars). I've never bought GE but have had several OWE tickets where I didn't use all the segments due to time constraints and it might have fit into the GE mileage limits. The original GE product didn't have a segment limit, only mileage, so it was excellent for lots of short legs (also prone to abuse by people using it for commuting!). Hence the rules were changed to prohibit such use, but no offset in benefit was added, making the fare rules not that different from OWE to compensate for the mileage limit.

GE includes some airlines that codeshare with say QF, that make it viable. A GE is about the same price as a OWE4. For those who do a OWE for miles, it may not be 'worth it'. But for those who need to go to places that only a GE can go to, it's worth every penny.

Not everyone flies to collect maximum mileage you know.

I have bought an LGLOB34 mainly so as to be able to fly on i) QF's former codeshares within NZ on Origin Pacific and ii) QF's codeshare on TN for AKL-PPT. Routing was (IIRC)

SYD-xCHC-ZQN-xCHC-xAKL-PPT-IPC-xSCL-JFK;PVD-xORD-STL-BOS-xLHR-PRG;EDI-xMAN-HEL-xBKK-xMEL-CBR

I bought it not to maximize mileage but because at that time the LGLOB34 bought in Australia was cheaper than a simple SYD-BOS roundtrip. Since I wanted to go to PPT and IPC, it was therefore either a LONE5 or an LGLOB34 for this trip. The LONE5 was a more expensive option for what I needed; one-way AKL-PPT fares are expensive and I didn't have miles to do an award trip at that stage. The ticket let me make all the side trips I wanted for the next few months (all I had time for), so it was the best option for me.

Jetconnect (not origin pacific) flew (and still flies) CHC-ZQN-CHC-AKL. No need for xGLOBxx as can include on xONEx.

Of course TN not allowed on xONEx so still worthwhile.

I am in the same boat as Yellow77. We are focussing on South America but the RTW is cheaper than the RT to Peru/Brazil and all the domestc segments on top. The bonus is the extra miles and a quickie peak at some of the world's most incredible cities: New York, London and Tokyo enroute back to Australia. Of course we are going via PPT and IPC!!

This is ancient history, but I assure you the CHC-ZQN-CHC legs were on Origin Pacific. It may have been that Jetconnect also flew those routes then (they certainly do now), but the flights I wanted were definitely Origin Pacific. (And as you say, this was irrelevant to the 'which ticket' question.)