I'm not really stoked (kinda tired of Gingerbread, actually just bought a WP7 device for a change of pace), but I am going to try to use a non-data line in my family plan to pick this up for $200.
That baffles me, I refuse to believe it until people actually try and succeed on the 2nd. Can't wait to hear those stories if it ends up working. This is something you definitely can't do online...I have tried.
I would guess no. This was not the case with the I9000 and the Captivate. However, there were a lot of ports. Same with the DHD to Inspire, many ROMs only needed slight tweaks to get them fully functional.