You are not a normal ASUS customer. If you were, you wouldn't be here discussing this. "Normal" customers want Netflix, Hulu+, Kindle, and the like, not hackable boot roms.
Open source boxes that are not locked down generally do not get to have an official Netflix client, Hulu+ client, etc. Users won't buy things that don't have the content they want, and Hollywood won't let things have that content if users can easily compromise the digital path.
Btw, it's not ASUS's issue, it's that users want movies and Netflix has them. It's not Netflix's issue, it's in their contracts with DRM providers and studios, contracts they have to sign to have the movies users want. To carry the movies, lock things down. Users want movies, ergo, things are locked down.
For all the Apple hate, Jobs stared down the record labels, and unlocked music. To solve the "open" business, Google should put money behind open business models for movies, enough money that Hollywood capitulates and all these contracts up the chain can get redone in the consumer's interest.
