protozoanViewport: Yes like the normal or facet or cusp sop but without having to add a sop. Just for the viewport. Doing that by adding a sop requires keeping the operator at the end of the network while modeling.
This has been discussed (even on the beta, iirc) but I shall post the counter-standpoint: it should be like it is now. I get that you need automatic point normals to see anything at all, but other than that, the viewport should show what's actually there, and if no vertex normals or open (“cusped”) edges are present, none should be shown.
I'm aware that other softwares do that differently, but they should be shunned for that. It's wrong and counterproductive to hide low level things like that from the artists. One of Houdini's stongest points was always to enforce understanding of what is really going on onto people, and not have a magic black box.
If you try to fix broken geometry coming from external sources and have a magic viewport that shows stuff that isn't there for convenience, it's one real pain in the neck.
Then I will mst likely never model in houdini. Nor will I buy a full commercial license.
I really can't understand that point of view. Al I want is to see how my model will look as early as possible. I don't have the faintest idea what could be wrong with that. It is there for a good reason in literally any other 3d software on the market.
Edit: Your point of view is like saying “there should be no shaded preview(!) of the geometry as long as it is not rendered”. Sorry, but this is absurd.