All those bricked devices? Can you point to one? Didn't think so.

The N900 is very difficult to brick. Worst case some people had to re-flash back to the old software because the beta had an incompatibility with an app or two, or certain SIM cards. I've yet to hear of a single N900 bricking due to software. The few that have bricked have primarily been due to hardware failures.

While I agree, I also snagged a copy of the image. One can extract/examine parts from the image if one wants to without flashing it to a device. Plus, in the unlikely event that PR1.3 doesn't come down the line, I'd rather have a copy that I can optionally upgrade to, vs not having bothered getting a copy and then having no options.

That's the reason I got the N900. So have the option to run whatever I want on it. I'll probably wait for PR1.3 to drop, mainly because I'd rather at least try to do an OTA update vs a reflash. Simply snagging a copy of a W36 image doesn't mean I'm obligated to flash it...