[wp-hackers] compression and caching

[Micah]

I currently manage 30+ WP websites, a few of which have tons of content and 
plugins. While trying to optimize those sites that have a lot of requests, I 
researched best practices for websites. Many sites recommended the use of 
great plugins like Super Cache and Total Cache, which of course I do. But it 
made me wonder why compression and caching isn't included in the core.

My understanding is mostly superficial but it seems the inclusion of 
compression and caching options (turned off by default) would do a lot of 
positive for Wordpress and the end user experience. Static admin CSS and JS 
and TinyMCE files are minified and gzipped which is a great start to this.

As stated in this ticket, Gzip was taken out in version 2.5.
http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/10365

If there was a way for compression to happen either server level or 
externally (using YUI Compressor), could there no be a switch or small 
system for enabling compression to be served as cached files?