Now that I'm thinking about it, I may not even have anything to contribute to the conversation because I've never really been engaged with a new system as it came out and was developed over a series of releases. I just got back into gaming in 2009, so the stuff I've fallen in love with (GBoH, M&P, OCS, etc) were already established and never in danger of being killed off.
It's better to get in late, IMO. The number of times I upgraded my SFB stuff makes me sick.
GBoh - the deluxe editions include more scenarios and such. Early adopters get screwed.