>If "exact" is deprecated, what is the preferred way to do string
 >searches?

Anchor.

Current CQL prose:
"Carat/hat (^) is used as an anchor character for terms that are word lists,
that is, where the relation is 'all' or 'any', or '=' when used for word
adjacency. It may not be used to anchor a string, that is, when relation is
'exact' (string matches are, by definition, anchored). "

The approach we discussed was to extend anchoring to strings, if 'exact' is
depricated. (Though a different anchor character may be waranted.)

--Ray