Well, first off, I didn't read the linked article, because I'm a lazy bastard, and your post is long enough as is. Most of the things you refer to as "lies", I would call " pulling a 180." This crap happens all the time, and, in this particular case, making liars of themselves was a good thing, so I'll let it slide. Its actually somewhat comforting to see that they understand that pleasing their customers is more important than keeping their word.
Also, I would argue that they have compensated early adopters -- by selling the standalone Kinect for $200. Its not like the thing is tethered to the console; you can still sell the one you have if you no longer want it, and, with M$ charging so damn much for them, you could probably EBay your current Kinect for somewhere north of $100, bringing the cost of your standalone Xbox down to sub $400. Win, win!
