Personally, from an economic standpoint this locking business was a good move for AMD. All of the hoopla and effort to find an unlocked processor has probably caused an increase in processor sales overall. Just in time for the holiday season.
Examples.
1)2500+ is locked? I'll buy a 2800+.
2)I wasn't going to buy a cpu until they went down a little more in price...but if there aren't anymore unlocked ones, I'd better get one now!
3)Well...maybe I'll just look into buying one now, even though I don't need one. (ends up buying one anyway, i.e. ME.)
While we all complain, I think it was a carefully calculated move on AMDs part to boost sales in time for the holidays. How many cheapos did they actually lose with this move? I think most will steam for a few months tops, take a look at intel chips high prices and remember why they went AMD in the first place.
my $0.02