All the speculation and different theories on why various things are being omitted (before even knowing for sure if they are or aren't) is just funny. Every one is a know it all.
I haven't rooted yet, just because I'm lazy and still deciding if I need what root provides. I did install the launcher, gallery, and news and weather, and let me just say for me, the launcher was just awful. Constant FC, choppy, reboots, and the like. It was NOT pleasant.
I am with the folks that would much rather see substance to these upgrades, rather than eye candy. Better exchange support, bluetooth voice command, and tighter integration with the online google offerings I place before the eye candy of live wallpapers and multi-touch. People just want multitouch support because iPhone has it and all the pundits point out what ipHone does that Droid doesn't, and people feed into that BS. Tapping to zoom works just fine, but nooo we can't stand to tap when others can pinch, so we get that before we get simple things like being able to enter a birthday into the contacts app like we can online.
There are a lot of things that other more polished OSes offer over Android, and I just wish these upgrades would fix those gaps, instead of just upping the "pretty factor."
Given what has been speculated about this update, i too will be happy with the new gallery, news and weather widget (though I likely won't use it), and 5 home screens.