You're saying that when I use a tool, e.g. draw a rect, the Rect tool style is updated to the current (global) style. But then you say that when I select the Rect tool, the global style is updated to the Rect tool style. I don't see how, with these provisions, a tool's style can ever be different from the global style.
OK, I see where you're coming from now. Because, in Inkscape, there isn't a 'style I'm currently drawing in', but only a style associated with each object, when you draw with a tool often the style isn't the one you will eventually use. The bigger problem, though, is when changing back to a tool with an object selected. If it then recalls the style associated with the tool, I suppose it would change the style of the selected object, which isn't what I want.
So perhaps that's not the feature I want. Maybe the feature I want is an easy way to swap the fill style with the stroke style. That way, I could draw with the freehand tool, switch to the calligraphy tool, draw another object, press the appropriate key, and carry on drawing, without having to set the colour by hand or change to selector and ^c ^V the style from another object.
Maybe even that isn't the feature I want. Maybe it's some other feature. Maybe the feature already exists? But you know the problem I would like to solve. Surely I can't be the only one who spends too much time on this?
Btw, it's a bit late, I suppose, but I'd like to apologize for hijacking Christian's thread. :-)