I simply find cpanm does all I want to do including working with PerlBrew very nicely. I used cpan for years and have no real complaints. Configuration of cpan is no real problem since most of it just self-configures.

That said, I started using cpanm when I started using PerlBrew and have yet to find a reason not to, so I do. I do find that it is faster than cpan for some reason. Maybe that is wishful thinking on my part. I have not measured either one.

I can certainly understand p5p folks not wanting yet another thing to do however. Bottom line is that I like cpanm and use it, and yes it would be nice to have it simply be there. But installing it is so simple that it probably is not worth the time invested to make it part of Perl releases. (I work almost exclusively on Linux, so I should not and do not represent those folks who work on MS stuff). Just my $0.02 worth....