I applaud the efforts of the Core team. The Items that Mamba lists are the biggest things I see as moving the Xoops system forward. Now about that module framework...
If we look at how other CMS's make changes it would make sense to rename 2.6 as 3.0. I think we have gotten tied up in the idea that 3.0 would be a big change from the 2 Branch and perhaps Peekay is correct.
If however we look at the changes between branches it does fall in line with the incremental changes between branches.
2.1 and 2.2 are abandoned branches that were attempts to take xoops in different directions and since they were abandoned I won't include them...
2.3.3 was created to make xoops work with php5 and include some of the features attempted with 2.1 and 2.2.
2.4.5 Added some UI upgrades to the Admin menu and some security upgrades but really not that much changed to the base system.
2.5.5 is more of an update but again not much changed with the core.
2.6 is a major reworking of the core to update much of it and make it fully compliant with php5. By removing core items and making them plug ins this will encourage improved replacements much like PM and Profile have without needing them to be hacks to the core. This should be the biggest upgrade with Xoops since 2.3.3 but is not unlike the 2.3.3 upgrade.
So then we could talk about what it would take to make a 3.0 Branch but realistically I think a 3.0 Branch would be something where the technology changes much like the technology changed between xoops 1.0 and 2.0. With 3.0 the base structure of how things work with Xoops should change and it should be done from the ground up.
Attending College working towards Bachelors in Software Engineering and Network Security.