Aspect Ratio
 

It would be great if there was an option in OG preferences so that by default, aspect ration is maintained and that by holding Shift when dragging a handle will allow for warping on the X or Y axis.

I spend much of my time holding shift and it slows down my system diagrams and my UI diagrams. I'm sure other use cases exist where not maintaining aspect ratio is the norm, that is why I suggest an option in prefs....

Any thoughts on this?

We're considering having the "Maintain aspect ratio" checkbox in the Geometry Inspector be an actual object property pretty much just as you describe instead of a setting within the inspector. iWork does this, and we're mulling over following suit.