Well I am sort of with you in wanting more interactivity with the pet because Fire and Frost feel very close in terms of playstyle to me. I'd like them to differentiate the two somehow, and Frost's pet would be a good way to do that.
But a lot of Frost Mages don't like the pet, our current interactivity (water jet, not freeze. freeze is wonderful ) with the pet is clunky and badly designed and lonely winter is a big 'out' from those who don't want to use the pet at all, dis-incentivizing blizzard from working on it too much.
I use lonely winter in raids and bone chilling in world content though. Big blue is very handy for world quests and controlling tons of mobs trying to kill you.