Yes, it is not even a particularly modern development. I recall a Japanese 50mm refractor that I tried in a department store in the late 1970s that did not focus without the diagonal, and of course gave an upright image with the diagonal. I had read in all the astronomy books of the time (by Moore etc.) that astronomical telescopes always gave an inverted image. As this issue was not mentioned in any of the books (Moore himself seems to have never used a diagonal) I was much puzzled, as were the shop staff, and eventually I bought a Newtonian.
So, I agree, it is a detail which should be explained in specifications, but never is.