Has anyone actually asked the pools why they don't upgrade? And if they've tested merged mining? Maybe they would have some valuable feedback.
updating software on pools is risky. if the upgrade results in the loss of a block, or worse a bitcoin block, the pool can be substantially out of pocket.
has merge mining with the new client been tested? it should be easy to run a difficulty 1 'ixcoin in a box' network with old and new clients and make sure they accept each others blocks.
Updating software on pools is risky.
I assume they would not have to convert all their mining cores to the new client at once. Maybe just take 1% and run their tests to see if it works as advertised. I'm still wondering if any of the pools actually tried it yet.
Has merge mining with the new client been tested? it should be easy to run a difficulty 1 'ixcoin in a box' network with old and new clients and make sure they accept each others blocks.
Is that something you are willing to do and let us know if it works? Maybe it would give the pools some incentive to accept the client if it works ok.