Sites that change over to flash 10.1 are now starting to block browsers that do not have flash 10.1 from accessing their sites.

So even if a browser has flash 9.4, if they are unable to access sites because these sites requrie flash 10.1, then what good is flash 9.4 for ?

Nothing - becuase flash 9.4 will not be able to access such sites, just like browsers with no flash.

if flash 10.1 comes to n900 I will eat my words and kowtow to Nokia in apology.

But given its past pattern of Nokia behaviour... I think the odds are on my side.