The real issue gets clouded in the muck. Google is Android. Google therefore releases (or withholds) versions of Android...Not your carrier. Not the French. Not your aunt Fanny...Google.
The only difference btw N1 and your phone is 2.1 and their processor. Period. You got 2.1, you basically have an up-to-date phone minus the fastest processor. This we know. So, by process of elimination we know that Google withheld 2.1 on purpose no doubt to give its own phone a chance to launch (exclusivity). If we all had 2.1, all that the N1 could boast is that processor and a sexy box that reminds you of an HTC Hero...Not enough to wage war on an industry.
HTC is a telephone manufacturer under contract to Google for the N1 and thus they had to have access. If they owned N1, bet that they would have released it in others of their new phones. The N1 was simply their new release from GOOGLE.
Google lives by the Golden Rule. He that hath the gold, rules. They have 2.1 - The rest of the world waits...and waits...and rants...and waits.
Note: This of course doesn't stop your carrier from releasing 1.6, 2.0 or whatever other iteration that is available - but what would be the point when 2.1 exists? I think that what we are seeing is the future. You can't expect Google to be fair to the rest of the telephone world when they have their own phone to sell...they need a differentiator, in this case it is 2.1 - It isn't rocket science, it's just business.
I'm as ticked off as everyone else but I now understand the beast.