If you want a closed platform whose first priority is to put money in the hands of big corporations while slowly disenfranchising both users and developers, please get an iPhone.
They never said it was an open platform. Cite me the time, date when they said that. They said it was open source. Open Source means access to the source code, it doesn't mean chaos and anarchy.
As far as "liability for future carriers", you're making an assumption you can't possible back up. Like i mentioned in my post, company policy changes with user demand. Companies will back down if enough users are unhappy, a recent example is the broadband bandwidth-cap.
You don't get it dude, you really don't get it.
ATT, Verizon, and Sprint are not going to invest in an OS that allows customers to violate the TOS. Especially when the app in question is allowed to be on the official market. They're not going to do it. Having apps, any apps, that violate T-Mobile's TOS presents an issue. If T-Mobile had approached Android and android said "no, sorry, we're not going to do that"....then Sprint, ATT, and Verzion would not bother with Android. Why? Because they'd be fools to do so. No company is going to invest their time and money into a product that will undermine it's customer agreements, it doesn't make practical sense. It doesn't make business sense. There are no benefits to the carriers for investing in Android if it's just going to lead to problems for them.
Explain to me why any other carrier would bother with Android knowing that Android will allow apps on it's marketplace that undermine their customer agreements? They don't make these Terms Of Service Agreements on a whim or because they are bored. It has a lot to do with what services and features are the most cost effective and deliver the best ROI. Android violating their service agreements affects that ROI.
Taking down the app presents Android in a way that is attractive to Sprint, Verizon, and ATT. It tells those carriers "we respect our client's agreements with their customers" It tells them that Android will respect those agreements.
It's a smart business move, one that benefits everyone. If you can't see that, I don't know what to tell you.
Yes, tethering is not something the carriers want to see the users get for free, but it's gonna go the way of bank checking fees. Competition (and ease of implementation) will rule the day.
You may very well have a point. But petitioning Android isn't going to change that. It's going to be met with deaf ears, they have a responsibility to T-Mobile before they have one to you or any other person with a G1. Efforts to change tethering would be better and more fruitful if you engaged T-Mobile directly regarding this issue.
Honestly, I think T-Mobile is simpy not ready for tethering. I think it has less to do with them not wanting to do it, and more to do with their data network, very much in it's infancy, not being able to handle it. So for now, it's forbidden, but perhaps when they're on the scale of ATT and Verizon, and they have the customer requests, they'll change it. But for now, it's not happening.
