it's basically React, let's be honest here. Not that React invented anything but that Angular 2 clearly wants to use the exact same system it didn't use at first place.
That said, it's only "basically React" in the sense that they both use a Virtual Dom. The implementation is unlikely to be as similar and the syntax is very different.
Your analogy is flawed in the same way that calling Linux "basically BSD" (or vice versa) is wrong simply because they both use a Unix-like kernel.
The previous architecture was excellent for its time. The initial release of Angular 1.x was 6 years ago. The praise was well-deserved because dirty checking was fast and efficient.
React came about 4 years later and used an architecture that no one else had ever used. It was faster and more efficient. Now frameworks are converging to the new faster and more efficient way.
It seems like you consider it a personal affront that Angular is changing with the times. You seem to forget that exchanging is what makes these frameworks great (CSSAnimationGroup is, in fact, a replica of ng-animate).
It's the same thing everywhere, so it is with React, Angular, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Google, ... People iterate (and meanwhile, they copy, improve and/or innovate stuff). The difference lies in how you are marketing it ;)
For example, if you change the data model behind an ng-repeat right now, Angular deletes the old element from the DOM and writes a new one. Angular 2, and React, will figure out that just the internal information of the element changed and it will just change that bit.