A lot of shared hosts are going to disable the dl() function, even if its usable in their particular version of PHP. In short, shared hosting is rapidly becoming antiquated except for those who just want to host a blog or some other kind of vanity site.
Its going to be quite some time before most people are 'in the clouds', however I don't see anything wrong with you expecting more serious users to have a VPS .. and specify the need for one as a system requirement.
I feel the same burn on both sides. I own a small hosting company and also develop custom PHP extensions. Fortunately, for me, I can make my products available to clients that I host without hassle.
Have you thought of just bringing up a shared server and offering hosting to those who need it?