Maybe Boeing won't have to resort to payouts... They're converting some orders to 737s (right?) and they have huge orders for the 787 already. Not like Airbus, which was in trouble and desperately needed to keep their customers.

I'm personally a little concerned about all the new tech on the 787. I'm sure it'll work OK, but wonder what the record will look like after 5 or 10 years. No telling what troubles might crop up with the carbon fibre and the high-tech computer systems...

Any update on when we can expect to see 787s in the wild? Or perhaps a delivery schedule showing who gets theirs and in which order?

On Wikipedia:
On April 9, 2008, Boeing officially announced a fourth delay, shifting the maiden flight to the fourth quarter of 2008, and the initial deliveries to the third quarter of 2009. The announcement indicated the new schedule included extra time in the testing schedule to accommodate future unforseen delays.[62][1] In order to keep Boeing's latest schedule, the 787 must complete flight testing over three quarters, in line with the 9 month flight test campaign originally stated. In September 2007, after announcing delays, Mike Bair said that Boeing would keep the Certification Date using six flight-test 787s at a rate of 120 FT hours per month, higher than the 70-80 FT hours per month used in previous planes.[63] Boeing's previous major aircraft, the 777, took 11 months with nine aircraft flying 7000 FT Hours, partly to demonstrate 180 min-ETOPS, one of its main features.[64]