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Martin -- there have been a fair number of changes, and I 
agree that major new functionality is often asked to cook for a 
release outside the core.

That said, the changes were mostly the sort of things that 
could be done even after it was in the core; they're just being 
done early.  So I'm inclined to agree with Tim in this particular 
case.  

I feel even more strongly that if it doesn't go in 2.4, then it 
should at least be targeted for 2.5, rather than an indefinate 
"future".

Also note that 

(1)  This doesn't require much in the way of changes to the 
previous code; it could be backed out if there are problems 
during the testing phase.

(2)  there are a few alphas left, plus betas, and the author 
has been very fast with fixes; if there are problems, I'm 
confident that he can fix them in plenty of time.