I think Mike Coleman proposal of enabling this behaviour via flag is
probably best and IMHO we should consider it under these circumstances.
 Intuitively, I think you're interpretation of what re.split should do
under zero-width conditions is logical, and I almost think this should
be a 2-minor number transition à la from __future__ import
zeroWidthRegexpSplit if we are to consider it as the long-term 'right
thing to do'.  3000 (3.0) seems a good place to also consider it for
true overhaul / reexamination, especially as we are writing 'upgrade'
scripts for many of the other Python features.  However, I would say
this, Guido has spoken and it may be too late for the pebbles to vote.

I would like to add this patch as a new item to the general Regexp
Enhancements thread of issue 2636 though, as I think it is an idea worth
considering when overhauling Regexp.