In reply to mark k..

Mark -- to address your comments:

It is not like this move is even meaningful unless BP will be refactored to use 5.3 idioms over the current 5.2.

There are a few small parts in BuddyPress which we'll update to use PHP 5.3 stuff. 98% of the current codebase is not going to be refactored to use PHP 5.3 "just because" we've changed the minimum requirements; it creates a lot of work.

We don't have enough time or contributors to refactor the entire codebase, "just because". If we did, maybe we would.

Our entire new REST API will use PHP 5.3 stuff.