Awlright, I'll have to chime in now.

Actually, it IS better to put the car in neutral. There is a matter of the throw out bearing to consider with manual transmissions. It will last longer if you routinely put the transmission in neutral rather than keeping the clutch disengaged.

That being said, it's true, the reaction time is severly limited by doing this and I usually don't put mine in neutral except when I'm going to be stopped for a while, like a long light or heavy traffic.

Last clutch lasted 95k miles (not too bad) considering I didn't baby it.