[nicholassmith]

So here's how this goes: people buy an iPhone and get a clean experience out of the box, people buy a HTC or Samsung and deal with a crappy UX whilst respectable geeks tell them to root and flash it.

That's fine for you but not a non-geek no matter how easy it is. It doesn't matter if it's stock Android or not, their experience is tainted in a heartbeat. Having a bad experience with any form of Android will put someone off unless they know the difference, which most don't and don't care about.