Alright. Though, even if the beta would prove to be pretty neat, aren't you afraid of how the community would react in overall? After all, it's a huge change in software, and has a much more professional touch to it than anything else; both looks and the way things work back-end. Many features, as far as I can remember when checking back then, aren't available in XF. That is, features similar to vBulletin. A good and prime example would be profile customization, which many people seem to enjoy over here.
But that's just my guess. Who knows, it might even be better in the end.