With a bit of last-minute help from Eaton I pushed my new cck_taxonomy module out the door. It is very similar to the Content Taxonomy module, and might be a totally duplicated effort, but that module has some subtle bugs and is big and I couldn't be bothered to understand the code, so I wrote my own, and learned a ton along the way.

What does it do? For every taxonomy vocabulary (except freetagging... that's coming later), you now have a new field type to add to content types. So on my site that I'm building I have an Instrument vocabulary (horn, violin, tuba....), and when I go to "add field" I can add an Instrument field. But I can rename it, and I can add more than one if I want. Plus I can override some of the configuration from the vocabulary (required and description), so they can be individualized.

The data is stored in the CCK tables. Multiple values are handled correctly. If you change the 'multiple' attribute on the vocabulary the fields get updated. If you delete the vocabulary the fields get deleted. There is views support (basic). There is token support. Hierarchical taxonomies aren't yet represented hierarchically.

This, to me, is one of the missing links to deprecating taxonomy. It is an interface for building lists... hierarchical or otherwise, but as a form widget and as a storage mechanism, it is outdated.