What in your opinion would have been the right thing for Apple to do here?

It is actually quite common to have IE6 support as a requirement for new intranet applications in enterprises. This is the reason why frameworks must still support IE6. (even though it is really really painful).

BTW: If browser-side programming is not your thing, take a look of Vaadin framework that combines GWT and server-side programming model.

Please give more details: what country? what provider? how they unlocked tethering?

The story is about factory unlocked iPhones with operators that are not Apple partners.

This is not the question. I have bought tethering plan from my carrier. It works fine with any mobile phone in the world - except iPhone with version 3.1 firmware. It should not be my carriers problem to resolve this problem if Apple decides to default to "tethering disabled" for any carriers they have never heard of.

You are wrong. This affects factory unlocked phones. Bought from a "normal outlet" - not jailbroken or hacked.