Huston, we have a problem !

[Maurizio Cimadamore]

> But are these concepts actually different?  If they are, there has to
> be case where adding<>  to a raw type results in different results at
> run-time.
Well, because of type-erasure you won't be able to tell the difference 
between List<String> and List<Integer> either - so are they the same thing?
>> The problem becomes more evident as soon as you start exploring new
>> language features that imply exact runtime information about generic
>> types (i.e. reification).
> It is impossible to implement reification in a backwards-compatible
> fashion.
I guess it depends on what we mean by reification - there are several 
proposals, each one with different implications on backwards compatibility.

Maurizio