I think the biggest obstacle to scipy in its current form is that many users find it hard to install. Yes, some of you may have no problems, but I've run into many that have (and some of them are pretty experienced at doing installations). It is essential that whatever the core is, it be an easy install for the vast majority of users. I think Travis is on the right track here. My only variance is that I wouldn't object to including more popular modules in the core distribution *so long as they are easy installs on all popular platforms*. Anything that isn't shouldn't be in the core.
Yes, scipy_core will be easy to install (right now that translates to no Fortran code). That is a very important goal. I won't be happy if people do not find scipy_core to be a useful and better replacement for Numeric and numarray. -Travis