Richard, have a careful read over the original post. The problem is that the Parallella can be damaged by use with a hub that violates the USB specification. If the hub follows the USB spec faithfully, there is no problem. The remedial action that Adapteva are taking is thus a bonus for future purchasers - good engineering in action.
The openness about this issue is in striking contrast to the way the PC industry handled the infamous nVidia laptop GPU problem a few years ago...