I think you have hit it closely. I like my Dreamplug and hope to go onto more different types of hardware, but it seems everyone of the platforms have proprietary hardware of "intellectual property" associated with the device. Until we can get manufacturers to build these with open hardware, we will have problems getting the complete box to work properly. That's the biggest rub for not going with Linux is some things just don't work out of the box, because of this. Of course Debian doesn't want if if we don't have open source, which I understand. But it takes us to complain, and loudly, to try and shift the manufacturers to our side.
Another problem is that I would like to be able to run these plug computers on towers outside. Here in the Arizona desert it easily goes above 115 deg. With a top of 122 one year, so I'd like to be able to purchase equipment that would survive here without having to build an air conditioned box for it and lose the possibility of running it off solar. They make some very wide ranged (temp wise) computers such as vehicle types, which live under a hood anywhere on earth, that's what we need. IMHO...
Personal experience...
I purchase a G5 around 2005, and in a couple of years Apple changed to an Intel processor, then I was no longer supported. Over a decade after the wifi hardware came out, it was still proprietary and I couldn't use the wifi for my box, which meant no Internet access. And since my 'hot spot' was an Apple iPhone, I couldn't use the USB connection either (kernel Oops occurred).
I am for and would sign up for a newsletter. Is there a possibility to have it be somehow selective as to what gets distributed?