Actually, over the past couple of years the standard has gone from 800x600 to 1024x768, at least in the wired world. That seems to be the case both in monitors, where the standard size of 17" made that resolution appear roughly equivalent to the 15" 800x600, and in digital projectors. A quick Google search for screen resolution statistics will confirm the preceding.
Now, like most web-developers, I'll design to an 800x600 screen size, but that's to fit a reasonable lowest common denominator of consumer, not to write to an overwhelmingly prevalent resolution.
Your point about serving the customer is valid. But with all due respect, when I read your "helpful suggestion" it felt like typical manager-speak: a supposedly easy solution that appears simple only because it's based on unrealistic or unsupported assumptions. I can't speak for pseudogratix, but perhaps you can see why such a suggestion might be... frustrating?
If you were to do a survey of Freepers, which resolution do you think would be the favorite?