Hard data is good when you have it but an impossible standard for every decision (and can have its own perils). Hence, my falling back the educated guess.
I think that we would be losing zero users because of re/nre is downright implausible. I can't think of a programmer I know who doesn't use regexes regularly and I basically see someone judging things based on the merits of the familiar every time I talk to a human being.
