SuiteCloud Development Framework / Dev Community Suggestions

In the 2016.2 release notes, there is mention of the new SuiteCloud Development Framework (SDF). While the notes do a decent overview, there isn't a lot of technical aspect to it. For example:

1. What is the structure of the XML (even why the decision was made to use XML)?
    1a. What happens if I have an XML definition that differs from a teammate and we overwrite each other? Do fields go away?
2. What is the underlying architecture of how this works? Does it use SuiteTalk to accomplish the interaction between the IDE and the NetSuite account?

In the past, the documentation on what is enhanced / fixed has been severely lacking in release notes. Anyone who has used the Eclipse IDE plugin can tell you that there have definitely been some stealth changes that don't get noted.