As an engineer I work to make hardware robust and failure resistant. But to make hardware that actually will destroy itself is insane.
We all know software is never absolutely perfect. There are always bugs no matter how comprehensive the testing. Somewhere, sometime there's an application that does something to throw an exception. We've all seen kernels crash. It happens.
So Motorola has put into their device a mechanism that can at any time there is a crash kill the hardware permanently??? That can only lead to one result. A massive recall and/or class action suit to replace thousands of bricked phones.
I'll go one step further - they have planted the most perfect exploit ever. Just write an app that causes the fuse to trip. You cant, you say? It's too protected? Bull! Go ahead and live in la-la land where everything is perfect, software never fails, and no one writes malicious software.
Ok, how about the fact that Android is open source. As always, the open source community is willing and able to help with bugfixes, features, and patches to make what is a great mobile operating system even better. That is the point, Motorola! Get it through your tiny, pointy head! It's not *YOUR* O.S. And it's *MY* hardware. After I buy it, I can use it, smash it, drown it in water, and run over it with a truck. I paid for it, I didn't "rent" it, and I don't need your blessings to upgrade it.
I'll stick with my HTC. At least until they decide to follow suit...