Actually, the flip SEEMS like it'd be a great idea for data cables.
    All sockets would be wired the same.  The swapping of transmit and
    receive pairs would happen in the cable flip.  You could hook anything
    to anything (eliminating the old RS232 DTE/DCE problem).

The last round of "rs232 on rj45" pinouts developed at cisco had exactly
this feature.  You could plug one end of a (flipped) rj45 flat cable into
one jack and the other end into another jack, and the right wires would be
connected so that everything (data, hw flow control, modem control) worked
right.  In addition, the "important" wires were in the middle, so you could
use as small as 4-wire cable for a 3-signal circuit.  I thought it was a
great idea.

It generated quite a bit of complaint and confusion however...

1) Using "standard" wiring schemes, it apparently results in inappropriate
   wires being twisted with each other once you get to the twistewd part
   of the wiring.

2) While we based this and the db25 adaptors on an existing (flipped)
   rj-45 cable assuming that they were "standard", they weren't.  At
   least one entire product line that uses the same pinout for the rj45
   jacks for the "console" and "auxilliary" somehow missed something and
   shipped (for a LONG time) with NON-flipped flat cables, and their own
   (different) rj45-db25 adaptors.  Really confusing things happened if
   you tried to move connectors or cables from those products to or from
   the "terminal server" products that understood the original pinout.

3) Things get confusing when you try to chain cables together...

BillW
cisco