Well for the Droid.. and for the G1/MyTouch's that are still on the right firmware I agree that it's mostly painless. Normal users should be OK with these and less chance of a brick. I don't know anything about the Nexus. For the CLIQ though.. I do see that one as being a pain. 2 separate downloads, plus a series of flashes and commands that must be entered perfectly... yeah. I don't see average joe enjoying rooting their Cliq very much. While the steps documenting is fairly clear.. and most people should be OK doing it.. well - look around these forums for a bit and you'll see . That's one of the things that makes Maemo stand out so much is the ability to root the device so easily. That's also the main reason I argue that it's pointless for root not to be on there by default.. it's so bloody easy to get it that you sure aren't stopping *anybody* from doing it. May as well just be there.