support for default "conversionService" bean in an ApplicationContext; revised formatting package, now integrated with DataBinder and AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter; revised AccessControlContext access from BeanFactory

Servlet/Portlet ApplicationContexts use a specific id based on servlet/portlet name; DefaultListableBeanFactory references are serializable now when initialized with an id; scoped proxies are serializable now, for web scopes as well as for singleton beans; injected request/session references are serializable proxies for the current request now

revised support for annotated factory methods (merged @FactoryMethod functionality into JavaConfig facility)

ApplicationListener beans get obtained on demand, supporting non-singletons as well; ApplicationListeners will be called in the order according to the Ordered contract; generified ApplicationListener interface

EL container integration; support for contextual objects; removal of deprecated Spring 2.0 functionality; Java 5 code style