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It was stated quite some time ago that other forum mods will not likely be added to the core (such as phpbb, yabbse, IPB, etc.) As great as these mods are, they would not reflect XOOPS as being original, from a core developers standpoint. The core team feels that using other development teams models would take away from the uniqueness of Xoops.
That being said, it doesn't mean that people outside of the core team will stop making modules of this type to give to the community at large.
Not very many details have been given about what new features the newbb will have but based on what I have seen, the core team has not only listened, they are close to releasing a very feature rich and easier to use forum to include with the core.