Generics are a nice feature to avoid code duplication. However, they are not required to be used in every application. Whatever the solution is, it should not

Generics are a nice feature to avoid code duplication. However, they are not required to be used in every application. Whatever the solution is, it should not affect code that doesn't require the use of generics. If the entire language is affected (such as a slower runtime because of the need to box/unbox) that would be a step down.