Here is my wish:
That the WP.org wp-mail.php could handle all of the nifty features that are supported by the "Post by Email" functionality over at WP.com .. attachments, shortcodes, categories, tags etc ..
See .. http://en.support.wordpress.com/post-by-email/
If anybody has any opening suggestions in any direction, I am willing to experiment with development.
Thanks.
P.S. I know about the Postie plugin and I know about Posterous ... hoping to not use either of those, but rather simply improve upon the core wp-mail.php ... either through additions to functions.php or direct rewriting/hacking of the core file. Thanks.