Looks like Broadcom is doing the right thing: http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/09/broadcom-announces-official-open-source-drivers-for-linux.ars

They've released fully-open drivers for 3 of their 802.11n chipsets.  I hope this'll spread to more of their hardware, but regardless, it's a great move.  No longer will Broadcom be an absolute contraindication to my buying hardware.  Thanks Broadcom!