Really these arguments make it sound like 2.7.9 never should have happened.

Given that it did, Nick has not addressed the question of why the vendors maintaining this simple patch (given that it addresses what he sees as their need) is not a viable option.

I do *not* see the proposed patch as an acceptable "feature" for 3.5, and I think I'm far from alone, so I suspect that it is a non-starter for following Nick's proposed "path".

Could there be a related feature that would be both acceptable and worthwhile?  Yes.  But someone will have to figure out what it is and propose it :)