Well I'm all set to start spending my money faster with Verizon 4G.
So, what's the word from Verizon? Can we get the 4G modem upgrade by sending our device back before the end of May 2011?
My problem is the longer I can't do this the more "stuff" gets on the Xoom and when I send it back, per the instructions,and for my own security
I"m going to reset the Xoom. Then when it comes back I'll return it to how I like it. So, the quicker the 4G comes the better 
Correct answers
I'm leary of encrypting because once you encrypt there is no way to undo it.
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/344256#344256: https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/344256#344256
It also looks like it takes a hour [or more] for encryption [this is probably no show stopper]:
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/334231#334231: https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/334231#334231
I'm thinking [of course this is all subject to change 
] probably not to encrypt and just force a reset from the settings menu to erase everything. There is a nice app I've installed called "seek droid" that allows you to track you Xoom and/or remotely erase it [good if someone steals your device].
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.gtmedia.seekdroid&feature=search_result: https://market.android.com/details?id=org.gtmedia.seekdroid&feature=search_result
I was thinking I might try the remote wipe before I send it back for the upgrade[I'd probably be the first to report on this on the Motorola forum but I'm hoping someone beats me to it]. Not sure what would happen to seek droid if you were encrypted.
Then again, the longer before we do the 4G upgrade the more "stuff" gets on the Xoom, which is why I'm hoping soooooooon!
-Jim
And no that particular issue doesn't exist with this version. (Which was implied in the mono thread)
I can boot with the cellular radio on and it pulls network time fine. And I can boot with cell off and wifi on and it uses the manual timezone setting I selected. (I did notice one has to tell it a manual time zone to revert to if it doesn't have a cell connection otherwise it reverted to the zone on it out of the box- forget if it was gmt or pacific time but it wasn't eastern time).
Also while im repyling- your post above that motos attitude is we'll tell you when we FEEL like it- I believe really mischaracterizes what they have said over in moto forums.
A more honest appraisal would be they don't know the exact timetable and they are afraid to share approximations. Once they have a more concrete timeframe then they will announce.
For those who haven't been playing with verizon " droids" - you should know that their angst to provide anything but concrete info is likely related to verizon repeatedly holding up updates that moto thought where ready to go. On more than 1 occasion with the first Droid moto employees said updates where coming (via phone, motos forums, or facebook) and then they never showed up. Speculation is verizon testing held them up. Since those times and the abuse moto took for not delivering moto has since become very tight lipped.