Ok just stumbled on this on another site, I turned off my Sense UI and I'm using the Stock Vanilla Android. While I have yet to see any real benefits, its interesting to see how the Hero looks with out Sense especially for us first time Android users. Even more interesting (especially if you have the Moment) is that the HTC apps are still accessible (Messenger, Dialer,etc). To me this shows just how the Sense UI is run directly over Android very similarly in my opinion to Touch Flo3D and should defintely have no problem running on the Moment at some point... But that may have been obvious since it is my understanding this has been done already with limited success on the G1. I thought it was much further integrated into Android and would take a lot to port... Anyway here are the instructions and a link to the source. I find it to be a bitty buggy so far but its only been a few minutes of testing. Try it? Feedback....
***Edit:Oh yeah some features seem disabled so far all I've noticed is pinch and zoom. Which makes sense, since Sense was providing it ( Sorry I couldn't resist abusing the pun lol). Droid apparently doesn't have it or has some limited ability to pinch and zoom, except its European equivalent, so it would be logical that the Hero's feature is generated by Sense and not Android.
1. Press MENU button.
2. Press Settings.
3. Press Applications.
4. Press Manage Applications.
5. Press the MENU button
6. Press FILTER and select ALL
7. Wait for the OS to compute application usage.
8. Scroll down the list until you see HTC Sense and select it to go to the Application Info page.
9. Press the Clear Defaults button.
10. Press the HOME button. You will be prompted to select which app to compete the action with. Select Home and chose to make
this the default action.
Now that you are back at the standard Android Home screen, what are the ramifications? There are now four fewer home panels on which to add widgets and shortcuts. The HTC widgets are no longer available, but the HTC customized apps like People and Messages are still available. The Facebook integration into the contacts is still there, also. The only real change is the home screen and HTC widgets. Interestingly, the original Android wallpapers are now available for use on your new Home! These wallpapers are hidden when selecting a wallpaper for the Sense home.
What if you want to go back to Sense? Follow the steps outlined above until Step 6 where you will select Home and then clear it’s defaults. Then on step 10 selcet HTC SENSE then set as default
http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-...ero-icons.html