iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G and iOS 5 on the first iPad have been the same. They could come out of it looking generous if they would allow us to downgrade our devices again...but all I hear is "your device is practically bricked, where's your credit card?"
Man, I would pay a small fee to Apple to be able to do that. I bought a maxed out iPad 1 when it was released and it was basically unusable in 24 months. I expected to be able to use it for 3y.