So you have a nice HTC Hero, bought on the premise, that HTC is going  to deliver a 2.0+ update and had to wait way too long for an update.

But what happens now, all your friends have the update but you don't?  Everyone is talking about "OTA" and "over the air" and you still have  to use the firmware from April 2009?

Assuming you have a unbranded, unrooted Hero the solution is nearly  too easy: Just set the clock of your Hero one month into the future. Possibly, you'll have to restart your phone.

Seems like HTC doesn't want that everyone gets his update at the same  time. But considering how long it took to even release the latest  version, I'd call this behaviour pathetic. I'll try to get my next  Android phone from a different vendor.

P.S. Yes, you should back up your data, however mine hasn't been harmed.