madderhatter, i saw this thread and i HAD to register so i can educate you bro. Let me tell you something about rooting your droid, its the same/similar process as any other android phone (since its all the same os in 1 version or another). The benefits of rooting a phone is nothing but shiny stars and glitter, nothing harmful will occur to your phone, i promise you that!! When rooting your phone, it comes with a very handy back up program that if anything goes wrong, you can start from where you backed up your phone. Cyanogen and other developers make fantastic roms, a wide VARIETY to choose from, some i can vouch to say are far better and more advanced in some ways than android 2.0. I have a G1, when i first got it, i admit the OS was laggy, ugly, unresponsive at certain times, overall it sucked. Once i rooted it, it gave its meaning of open source, a whole new meaning. I was a nub like you a few months back, and still kind of one, i'd just thought i'd share with you how great it really is to root your phone.
take it easy man