It's not really a matter of whether it will be "acceptable".

As I mentioned earlier the method found on the web produces a fairly acceptable result and in most contexts where it would be used I'd say it's okay.

However, seeing that a better result can be achieved with both modo and 3ds max I just would like to find a better Maya solution.

My intent is not to bash Maya. In fact I have invested so much time into Maya that I am not ashamed to say I have a clear Maya bias. So when something like this crops up I like to search for a better Maya solution.

I believe it is possible, one just would need to create a script to produce a better uniform spherical approximation then the icosahedron.

and I thought it would be something interesting to investigate and chat about.