Firstly I love this plugin and have reviewed it myself (http://bit.ly/jJR1Og).
Is it possible for WP Support to reveal what the supposed issues were?
As a end user (although one who is also a programmer) I would be upset to see akismet leave the core, but do agree that Hello Dolly should be removed.
Dropping IE6 Support seams like a sensible move, the more streamlined the end product can be the better and IE6 support prevents the use of CSS3.
I would love to see some meetups in the southern UK, just to meet some more WP devs.
