Sorry, a bit off-topic - but I hope the rant below is a welcome idea...
I would welcome an "enhancement" where any class, can have an icon associated with it...(like we do with SiteTree) - so that you can use these icons in building user-interfaces for managing data. This would allow for a more visual experience of the CMS.
Maybe we could allow image folders called "icons" to be automatically be added to the manifest in that any icon that matches a class name is automatically "linked" to it. What is more, we could have variations on the icons:
e.g.
mysite/images/icons/MyDataObject-32x32.png
and of course we apply the "default" vs "themed" concept.
Going along this route you could open up a ModelAdmin application and see a grid of icons rather than having to select from a dropdown what DataObject you like to manage.
Sorry, just a bit of off-topic "thinking out loud". Perhaps an idea for SS 4.0?
Nicolaas