I think its a great idea. I have temporarily stopped using 2.41 due to this and the grid zoom topic i posted in the "interface & tools" forum.
I also think it would be a simple task to make it apply auto-smooth to the 3D window. this would make things more efficient, and prettier!
Also, when you have multiple faced bunched together on a tube or sphereical object - lets say you wanted a pipe with multiple holes around the body, and you want it to be nice and pretty.... well, as it is now blender does this:
This is a suppressor i made. and as you can see, the effect is less than spectacular.... A way to counter this possibly, is making an option for "minimum smooth angle" so angles under a specifiable angle (like 1 or 2 degrees) will act like one solid face. i mean... this isn't just me right? am i the only one suffering this kind of problem?
I do not expect blender to be perfect of course, but i do hope this type (and the above mentioned) are on the "to-do" list of things.
Thanks.