[chromic]

This seems like the right choice. As nice as it is to force code to make explicit distinctions between the two methods, something as popular as jQuery shouldn't cause code breakage in a single update. Deprecate, hint at the better way to do things, and wait for users to move toward the more modern approach.

[pak]

Yes, this was the correct move. jQuery is for thinking less and doing more; the prop/attr distinction is both a painful code change and a needless complication for the sort of purposes that jQuery is used for.

[timdown]

Whether the property/attribute distinction is necessary for jQuery users is one question (I strongly believe it is), but if not, the correct move would be to remove the prop() method entirely, because according to the release notes it nows seems pretty much completely pointless.