on a more positive note:
I too think that the left hand options column should be a tree, and as each item is selected, it auto expands if it has children, and auto collapses when another parent is selected. Each selected item on the left would have related options shown on the right.
I'm not even sure if that's at all possible with the options system MC uses, but if it is, it'd be nice to try. The other thing some people might like, and has also been mentioned recently, is a 'help' button which opens the help file at the page dealing with that specific options sheet.