New Mosaic Editor needed?

Ok, I'm maybe not understanding the possibilities / limitations quite right. (I never understood why the world at large felt 16 columns was better than 12).
Can users easily get the following in Mosaic?

| xx | xxxx |
| xxxx | xx |

Or this?

| xxxxxxxxx |
| xx | xx | xx |
| xxxx | xxxx |

I'm kind of comparing to the Google Sites editor shown High Expectations of Site Authoring and Page Layout. I wonder if the storage mechanism, the layout tool and the tile configuration tool can be (or are?) 3 distinct parts, and therefore the layout tool can be switched for circumstances where the editing user has different requirements or priviledges, without throwing away the other bits.
(Right, I think I should shut up & let other people have a say)