Only because I flash a new rom on a regular basis.
I was runiing Cyanagen Mod 7 for a while, and quit chasing the latest nightly releases and waited for 9 to come out as a release candidate 9 no issues with it. I just went from CM9 stable to CM10 nighties. Other than plugging my phone in to charge no maintenance.
Don't now where you get this idea from.
Arguably, it's not a large nor scientific sample, but several people I know have them. I ask if they like the phone, and if it works well. They do seem to like it, but all have stories of "if you want to do thus, then you have to adjust/program such". I don't have time to regularly "adjust" a phone, so I have stayed away. I just spoke to someone at the ATT store (employee) who was using an Android. I asked if they liked it. Response: This is ATT's phone. My personal phone is an iPhone.
Not a good advertisement.