Hello.
From the fatigue standpoint it is a different manner, that statement is correct. However it is not a new concept since either composite elements or the whole (pressurized) fuselages have been already introduced, not of that size of course (see Raytheon, formerly Hawker).
As for the details for the 787 bigger problem is on the manufacturing side and with some aspects of repair.
Airbus team, or better to say, guys in German based DLR (an R&D institution responsible for testing and developing new CFRP fuse for the next AB narrow body) think that repairs on CFRP fuse, the way Boeing wants to do them, do not work.
Well, as long as they do not come out with something like an Airbus CFRP fuse it is highly theorethical comment, at least form my standpoint
Sadly, Boeing does not allow any discussion on that topic
so you need either to wait and see how it behaves or do a little digging through Google (better through its section on scientific publications called
Google Scholar ).
Composites structure
per se is analyzed in a different matter and I do not see this forum big enough to support detail discussion.
Cheers