Well, we've talked about using standard system privileges within packages and getting rid of custom privileges except when it is really necessary.
My main problem with Joel's proposal is that we already have standard system-wide privileges and if we diddle their meaning, or create new ones to replace the semantics of old ones, existing code will break.
Including code written by folks for customized sites. As usual, unless there's an extremely good reason to do this, we shouldn't.
Adding new system-wide privileges that don't interfere with existing ones is a different story. For instance a "moderate" privilege which groups READ, WRITE, EDIT.
We've talked about implementing a group/role style admin UI to simplify management, using rel-segments and permissions under the hood, as Dave suggests. At one time Lars and I had talked about the workflow role stuff being implemented the same way, but he's stayed with the role/user mapping idea instead.
