Entirely agree, I remember my first Linux install (Suse 6.x) seeing all of those messages fly onto the screen , first from the bios and then from Linux. It would go straight to a text login then I would type "startx" to get the GUI up.

Also made it much easier to tell WTF was going on with your system and displayed all those warning messages that I am guessing are just hidden away now unless you happen to look at dmesg.