Yes, this applies to both 2.x and 7.x - the root issue here is the only alternative is super-user rights which is not supported for IMAP access - which is what Connection is using to gain access to remote mailstores. Unity, on the other hand, is running with special access via MAPI - which has it's own headaches (notably it's not supported by other messaging vendors and Microsoft is making continued use of this difficult for folks like us on their newer mailstore versions - go figure - not to mention the fact that _getting_ those special rights can cause heartburn with IT departments).
There are other possibilities for accessing remote mailstores but broad support isn't there across the industry. I believe there are discussions about vendor specific approaches here but I don't know if any are comitted for a particular release at this time. I can say that they are not there for 2.x or 7.x.
