Honestly I think the animosity you speak of comes directly from Steve Jobs. He seems to always be in attack mode against his competitors. Couple that with what seems to be the typical Apple user mindset (I'm better than you cause I use Apple) and you get this air of superiority. The problem is, they never think to actually give another system a try, b/c to them, nothing is as good as what Apple does. I struggled with going over to Apple for a long time, but I never could get over the fact that their entire system is so locked down. I used to like building my own computers and stuck with windows. But with Google, its a choice in similarly powerful software where one is open and the other is not (yes, I'm aware that Motorola locks our bootloader, that's not Google's fault). But when you look at the iPhone 3gs/iPhone 4 hardware specs next to the Droid X, the X in my opinion comes out the winner. Couple that with the open and customizable hardware (even before rooting), and in my opinion you have a better device. I understand that some people seem to have a slow learning curve, but if my mom (LG Dare) and dad (Droid Inc.) can figure out Android, then really, anybody can if they sit down with it for a few minutes. Also, I bet most people now have a friend or relative using android that they can ask questions about or it's just as easy to type your question in google search straight from your device.
For me, having rooted, ROMed, overclocked, undervolted, and customized my device to my liking, I have pretty much been able to replace my home desktop and laptop. With the new Liberty ROM, my phone is running so snappy and fast that it's is by far my go to device to look up anything, directions, maps, wikipedia, banking, news, games on the go, facebook (which i really wish they would rewrite that crap ass app), and sports. I told my g/f just the other day, I don't know why I ask anyone questions anymore cause answers to everything are at my fingertips and they come blazingly fast with my DX.
I've used my friends' iPhones in the past, and just don't see them as my preferred device. But, definitely good luck to anyone that wants it. I always tell my friends that are looking for a new device to go and play with all of them in the store, and pick the one they like the best, cuz they will be the one using it, not anyone else.