The main difference between nerds who jailbreak their iPhones, and geeks who root their G1 is that the iPhone users jailbreak so that they can have access to new MMS applications, or trivial options like themes (note that a real keyboard or user-changable battery isn’t going to come from a jailbreak). For us G1 owners, we root our devices so that we have even more access to the hardware. Can I already do barcode scanning, install multiple web browsers, change my background (and battery), and extend the functionality of every app installed on my device? Yeah, I can do that the minute I walk out of the T-Mobile store.
The purpose of rooting a G1 is to bring it to the freedom of an Android Dev Phone that you would purchase from Google. It removes those last threads of cell-provider nonsense. Even with the G1 RC30 image installed (I could have opted for an ADP1 image if I wanted) I still have the total freedom I want, and access to the Amazon Mp3 store. Now I’ve got a device that is truly open.
So what’s on the horizon? Probably tweaking of low level functionality, like custom app install locations, tethering, virtualization, etc.
Why do I do this? Simple. Because I can.
Hell yeah.