It's actually really easy to get root on the archos. I've already managed to get root using the rageagainstthecage exploit. The problem is there is no way to mount the root filesystem as read/write. Archos, unlike pretty much every other android manufacturer I've seen, has decided to use SquashFS and squash the root filesystem. For those that don't know SquashFS is a read-only compressed filesystem for embedded devices. On top of that the filesystem has some security added on top of it which makes unsquashing it hard.
Hopefully when 2.2 comes out they will have chosen a different method of mounting the root filesystem. Otherwise getting a meaningful root will be very hard. I doubt anyone is really working on rooting it right now because of this issue. Most are probably waiting to see what 2.2 brings.