Personally I've not done anything on an Arduino for a while and I would just breadboard an at mega if I were to use one again. But a drinking buddy of mine recently showed an interest in tinkering with programmable electronics and for the cost I just put my name down for one on his behalf.
For less then £8/2 and half pints (plus a usb micro cable and CD for the ide and some tutorials in it, but I have those around the house) I can maybe give him something to tinker with, it was just one of those things were I couldn't see a reason to just say no.
For the cost I see them as great gifts for those around you who might want to tinker and even if they lose interest its not the end of the world.
EDIT: My point being even if you have an original Arduino or you program your own atmega's with the Arduino bootloader you might have a friend or know of a kid who is interested in doing a bit of "interfacing with the real world" and for the price (plus a few components out of your own stock, LEDS (throw in couple IR LEDS), resistors, some transistors, maybe few optocoupers) even if they give up after an afternoon and go back to Call of Doodie its not the end of the world, but you never know, you might get them building their own TV-B-GONE and annoying I mean showing their folks what they can do.