GWT 2.0, which is supposed to come out sometime in the next few months, solves a lot of the issues discussed.
- Create layouts using an html/xml like syntax
- Dynamic Script Loading - only the essential JS will be downloaded initially. The rest will be downloaded as needed
- In-Browser Hosted Mode - This might take care of the hosted mode speed issues discussed, among other benefits
- "Compiler Optimizations" - Faster compilation, hopefully
GWT 2.0 Preview Video at Google I/O
