If so much stuff from the 44.2 is (backwards) compatible, don't expect the 44.3 to be metric. A bit disappointing perhaps, but I guess that means AE think simply a metric B44 won't be good enough for their customers
Do keep in mind: Even these extensive updates to the platform are much cheaper than releasing a new one, so it's better to properly think through what it should be like before releasing it - if not you'll be losing customers to bad design choices or construction flaws, not to mention you have to invest in updates to fix the problems.