The dust I am referring to is generated from mining (< .0001) or from transactions where division is required and the results are many digits out (maybe pay per click web adds). While Satoshidice is certainly the biggest dust generator at the time, there is no way to avoid transactions getting smaller with time due to deflation so a fixed cost will absolutely fail in the long run. This is already become an issue because bitcoin went from $10 USD per coin to over $200 per coin, so suddenly the minimum fee went from .10 USD to $2.00 USD - This is deflation and it is already negatively affecting what we would consider small transactions (a cup of coffee now has a $2 transaction fee..)

So while I don't think that verion .82 is the answer, its an short term solution to a bigger problem that has to be fixed, so I support the effort if for no other reason to keep bitcoin viable while it is growing in adoption. If you kill the small transaction market, you lose a big market of potential users.