Groovy 2.0 introduces static type checking and compiling

I'm curious how this will evolve in the Groovy culture / ecosystem. Will using static type checking become a best practice, with people 'falling back' to dynamic typing only when necessary? Or will people keep using it dynamically, except for "those Java weirdos who don't know any better"?

Why all the hype around the "release" of Groovy 2.0, what with the OP's h-online link, one at jaxenter (http://jaxenter.com/groovy-2-0-is-finally-here-interview-wit...), one at InfoQ(http://www.infoq.com/articles/new-groovy-20), and the barrage of emails and cross-postings, all within a day of each other? Makes me wonder if the VMWare-employed marketers behind it all are on some sort of performance incentive.

It's the extreme opposite of the release of quality products like Linux and Clojure, both "announced" with low-key mentions in emails.

Looks like a stop gap for Java 8 (the static portion that is). Please Oracle let me have my closures sooner so the .NET programmers will stop making fun of us :)

Hasn't Groovy always been a compiled language?