I don't see Akismet as a core plugin. It is bundled, sure, but it is a one off, not the product of a philosophy to do this sort of thing.

Ryan, I think there is value in some cases of producing core features as plugins, and if the repository had a way of distinguishing more official plugins then I would agree. I do think that if plugins were developed that were intended to form part of a WordPress release then it would be important to clearly identify them so they were more connected with official releases.

I don't see the value in using the core, or official plugins, simply for the purposes of standardising back-end code which I think is really what is being suggested on the list. Standardisation is very easy, just come up with the most extensible option that fits everyone elses needs and they will use it.