Well it's not like you have to be a programmer to install a new ROM - it's just a few steps. If the user can't do that, then they probably have no need for what's in the new ROM. Going from Android 2..2 to 2.3.5 like this is far less complicated than say going from windows xp to windows 7. Anyway point is you can do it and it's simple so it's not like the person's device has been orphaned. :)

>That's an exception to what most people would do. It reminds me of the old Open Source arguement "If you don't like how it works, you have the source code. Just change it". Ummm... my mom has no idea how to do that. And while I could *maybe* figure it out, I don't have a desire to spelunk someone else's code. Mine's hard enough to spelunk, thank you.
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>>That's not quite true. Odd's are you'll be able to upgrade - just use something like http://www.cyanogenmod.com/ While the manufacturer might orphan the device the user's don't - and the community has the latest & greatest. Only glitch is if the phone has a locked bootloader - and even then there are ways around that. Some manufactures such as HTC (and supposedly Motorola in the near future) have even stated they will ship the phones with an unlocked bootloader so geeks can play.