if they can cope with the fragmentation (which is already happening - with only TWO devices on market)...

it's funny to remember, though, that Symbian was the future when they announced it was open sourced. And then Maemo became the future. Then OpenMoko...

Symbian was never the future, it was an old product that had been OSSd. Maemo was never on a phone. OpenMoko was always a joke.

Android is the only modern, out of the box, touch based platform not designed to pus hthe agenda of aparticular handset carrier.

but it is designed to push the agenda of google. the g1 couldn't even be activated without creating a google account.

You're right, I hadn't considered that. Googles agenda does closely match my own, but not always - their record in china doesn't suit me at all. Though I'm no apple fan at least they've never helped put someone innocent in jail.

I currently have a skinned HTC WinMo phone with TF3D (the UI the Hero's UI was based upon) and it is definitely an improvement over the WinMo UI. It is debatable whether it's better than the iPhone interface, though. I have not used the Hero's UI so I will reserve judgement until I get to.

What I can say is that the HTC skin that is on the Hero will not make its way to any other manufacturer (officially). Keep in mind that Google is aiming Android at multiple manufacturers. In the best case this situation will allow all users to switch between skins in an open environment where the competition drives innovative UI. In the worst case, we'll end up with a WinMo like marketplace where phones with the same underlying OS and similar hardware act completely differently, fragmenting the landscape. There is currently only one main Android manufacturer (HTC) so this isn't an issue but with major manufactures (i.e. Motorola and Samsung) releasing Android phones in the near future, we'll see how the situation plays out.

How is the Android interface on the Hero different from the baseline Android interface everywhere else?

I'm no expert on the topic, but I believe he's referring to "the new HTC Sense widget-based interface" (http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/24/htc-hero-details-begin-le...).

I'm supposing Android's interface is customizable, so HTC managed to build a whole new experience on it.

Check this: http://www.htc.com/www/product/hero/overview.html