whats the big deal about a vector eraser?

[handrawn]

well - if you are not a freehand artist, perhaps no big deal, but it would even then speed some things up:

attached is a very quick run through in inkscape beta RC 0.47

points to note:

it cuts through the shape in real time - no messing with nodes or boolean ['slice and dice']

the eraser width can be varied and it is pressure sensitive

you can see both your shape and what is behind it, as you draw in real time

the result remains as one shape in both cases

this is a far cry from simply removing something you don't want [well I think so ]