yeah, I don't believe HDMI-only is huge deal, but I can relate to the scenario Oscar laid out. I had to daisy chain RF adapters well into 2003 or 04. At the same time, this is going to be a $500 to $600 box, and I can't imagine anyone buying it at launch, or even at that price point, will be affected by this. And it sounds like Microsoft wants to position the Xbox 360 as the cheaper alternative, or something along those lines.
I can't remember if people were upset when the 360 didn't have an HDMI option back in 2005. PS3 was the first electronic device I bought that supported it, and I had to buy the relatively expensive HDMI cable because cheap ass Sony only included composite cables with my $599 HD gaming console.
Or when Microsoft only supported broadband with the original Xbox and it didn't really matter.