There is no misleading information from VZW or HTC. 8GB is there, you just can't access it all.
Go buy a HDD - you aren't going to be able to access the the "advertised" size (whatever is listed on the box) since part of the drive is reserved. Same thing goes for the 8GB internal TB memory. When I bought my TB I never expected to be able to access the full 8GB. I expected 4-6GB free but 2.6 is not surprising, after rooting your phone and going through the phone's file system there is a lot there (beside just the bloatware). Factor in reserved space for other phone operations and 2-3GB seems about right.
I would expect less reserved space on older phones, but as these things advance, I would not be surprised to see similar available sizes on many other phones from a variety of manufacturers.
Whether its "misleading" is only a matter of whether you feel misled. If there is 8GB installed, then there is 8GB installed. No one ever advertises how much is available to you.
Complain all you want but I've used very little of the internal memory - most of my apps can be moved to the nice 32GB SD card - not a size most companies are packaging in with their phones (most offer 8 or 16).
As someone posted earlier, I would rather take an additional 16GB in SD space in exchange for 4-6GB internal.
BTW, that 32GB card doesn't actually provide 32GB - its more like 29GB. The bigger the space, the more that is taken away from you. Take a look at what is actually available for use on a 1TB HDD - it will blow your mind.