If it doesn't have major API consequences, I don't mind getting it in.
II think you once requested <wicket:border> <span wicket:id="myForm"> <wicket:body/> </span> </span> This now requires myForm.add(getBodyContainer()) in some cases. As as you used Border without subclassing and extending it, than you should be fine.
How much extra memory are we talking about? Is the usecase for the border to be used as much as the AttributeModifier? Or is it more used once or twice on a page?
Assuming you don't have many Borders, the memory impact should be minimal. Now that we have two components (Border and Body) and it is consuming memory for two components. Neither Border nor Body keep a lot of internal state. Juergen