Maybe I'm thinking too literally. Afterall, the previous versions will still be available in his author directory.

Exactly! That is the beauty of CPAN and even more so of back-PAN. This stuff never goes away. It is your module now, if Simon still wanted to control it's destiny, he would not have given it up :)

AxKit::XSP::Minisession is over 2 years old, as is Apache::AxKit::Language::XSP::ObjectTaglib (which only seems to have been uploaded once). Surely they could use some really basic updating to start with. For instance converting the test.pl file in Apache::AxKit::Language::XSP::ObjectTaglib to be a proper t/ file which uses Test::More. AxKit::XSP::Minisession does not even have tests, so adding even just a smoke test to check the module compiles would be a step in the right direction. And of course this is also an opportune time to add your contact info and small paragraph stating that you are now maintaining this module. You can even put a TO DO list or FUTURE PLANS section to let possible users of the module know what you are thinking.

Personally, I see no problem with "the release early and release often" approach when using CPAN.

As for the stepping on toes thing, don't worry about it. Anyone who flames you for adopting, maintaining and updating a CPAN module is clearly an a**hole and should be ignored as such.