Well, franky1, that's really interesting (although it could have been said just as well without the provocative words); 2MB + SegWit. We do want to be careful -- releasing multiple things at the same time can lead to confusion if things don't go perfectly well. I'd hate to see something going wrong and each side blaming the other. Also, if there would be a need to retract a feature/function then that would likely cause a media stir; something Bitcoin doesn't need anymore of at this time.
then we move onto the other debate. blockstream devs not only want segwit in april but some other changes within the same release.
one of them is actually debunks the "hard fork is doomsday".. because it, itself is a hardfork.
by which i mean luke Jr's proposal for code to be added in april with just a 3 month grace (activating at block 420,000) in the attempt to unnaturally drop the difficulty to allow miners to solve blocks easier. basically forcing blocks to be made in 5 minutes instead of 10, to allow an extra 2 weeks of similar income before natural biweekly difficulty adjustments raise the difficulty.
which apart from knowing its just a feature that has no long term purpose. the suggestion that a hardfork can be added in april with a 3 month grace totally contradicts the same devs who say that a hardfork which is not on the roadmap needs 12months grace..
but the ultimate thing that defies logic, is the solid faith that all code done by blockstream is perfect and any proposal outside of blockstream must be ruled out, veto'd, debated to cause contention and delay.
like i said a 2mb buffer is like the 1mb buffer in 2013. it wont cause a doubling of blocksize over night. as the miners will have preferential settings to grow slowly within the hard limit.
the code itself is simple to implement. and the only thing that can cause harm would be contention by those foolhardily refusing to upgrade when the majority have actually already upgraded.
thats why its better to have the code available to all and then let the community decide if they want it..
if no one wants it. it doesnt activate, its that simple rather then avoid and delay the code and cause the contention that they doomsday speak about. by never letting the community have access to it.(self fulfilling prophecy they created)
now that has been said. going back to the other stuff you have said
i would like to see the results of the tests you intend to do. as real results always outweigh opinion and guesswork. so your tests can actually help out alot of people