I think 2.2 is out soon?
Yup Froyo, but when Google release a new version it then has to be altered by HTC to put their Sense system in it, then your contract provider will change it to add their boot up logo etc. Add to this the fact it costs to develop for each phone they rarely bother with older models.
1.6 came out and was released by Google last year, and was never adapted by HTC for the Hero. 2.1 has been out for about 4 monhts yet HTC have only just realeased their version for the Hero, and that is only in Taiwan. Once it gets released for the UK (rumoured end of June) then the service providers will add their own stuff. Last time this took Orange 2 weeks, and T-Mobile (who I am with) 2 months.
I'm jealous.
Still waiting for Motorola to update to 2.1 :-( until then i'm stuck on 1.5!!! rubbish!
So was I, until I took the plunge and rooted mine last week. Best thing I ever did phone wise, I am now running a 2.1 ROM and it is lightening quick, have full support for turn-by-turn navigation and the lot.
Have a read of my process
here, though it will probably be different for the Motorola you might find some useful stuff at the links I used.
Now I'm just waiting on a release of 2.2 for the Hero from the mod guys, but that will take time as the official release isn't out yet.