Gosh, this all sounds very interesting. I too have a Desire, and would love to remove all the pre installed crap from orange, that takes up room and can't be uninstalled like Uno and Traffic TV. Orange chat etc
If rooting allows you to do this, what's the easiest guide to follow to root my phone. I'm technically crap with these things, but can follow instructions like tun off, hold down volume and blink twice then turn upside down for 10 seconds etc!