Dave:
You are a very smart person, one of the smartest I know (and I'm not being sarcastic).. but just because you and your users feel 3.1 is the most stable release yet does not make it so.
There are thousands of people having problems with 3.1. I'm glad you have not had problems, but there are thousands who have.
*** I have many complaints with Apple -- too many to list. However, I hate
to break it you you, but Apple is not out to screw you. It is not
Apple's call whether to provide tethering, MMS, etc., in a particular
market; ***
I disagree with the above comment.. while they are not out to directly screw me, they do things that are no in the best interest of the customer. True, apple does not decide what markets MMS and Tethering work in, that is the carrier (as we can see with the 3.1 disablement at the whim of ATT).. but here are some fact that you cannot dispute:
1) MMS does NOT work on the first gen iPhone... WHY? Because Apple removed the MMS code from the 1G OS... why did they do it? They can say (and publicly do) that the iPhone 1G won't handle MMS... you and I both know that is a crock. There are MMS apps that work on the 1G iPhone... and the Edge network is more than capable of MMS... I have an old RAZR that will MMS... if you live in an EDGE market with no 3G signal, the 3G and 3GS phones MMS just fine... this is Apple's way of strong arming an upgrade to a 3G (minimum). The 1G iPhone is still 5 times more powerful than an average smartphone IMHO.
2) Lets not forget to strong arm 3G users into getting a 3GS... case in point. iPhone 3G is MORE than capable of video recording... there are apps that do it... Apple will not allow it because they want you to upgrade to the 3GS. The iPhone 3G has plenty of power to not only take video, but also edit it on the fly (there are apps that do this, but apple won't distribute them). The solution is to get a 3GS - the same could be said about Voice Command... no reason it should not be on the 3G other than they want you to upgrade to a 3GS.
3) The iPhone upgrade process - earlier versions of the iPhone OS and itunes allows you to restore to a CURRENT RUNNING version of the iPhone OS (in my c ase 3.0.1)... you can no longer restore a current runing version, you are FORCED to upgrade. I do not remember any pop up windows alerting me to that fact.
I'm not saying the above are meant to "screw" anyone, it's marketing, but item number three specifically is shady at best. If I buy something and own it, I should not be forced into upgrading it.
*** As a federal employee on an Apple-sponsored list, I'm still surprised
you so blatantly seem to promote violating AT&T's terms of service and
using the iPhone in a manner unsupported by Apple, and then complain
about it to boot.
***
I'm not using the iPhone in an unsupported matter, I do not have a single unauthorized application or hack on my phones. I *AM* a registered Apple iPhone Developer, I have been given authorization to modify and update IPCC files as has everyone who has the same developer agreement that I do.