Thanks for responding, René.
Actually, in the patch (ID 17504) that I posted recently, I have done exactly what you are describing, i.e. keeping the extension methods but with an [Obsolete] attribute. I had problems with Subversion, so instead of a diff patch I have included the full files that I have modified. It should be a simple task to just unzip the patch archive and copy the files into the right folders.
Actually, in the patch (ID 17504) that I posted recently, I have done exactly what you are describing, i.e. keeping the extension methods but with an [Obsolete] attribute. I had problems with Subversion, so instead of a diff patch I have included the full files that I have modified. It should be a simple task to just unzip the patch archive and copy the files into the right folders.