Single point of presence only for vast connectivity. I have read others ideas about having multiple GP hosts.. That is a great concept.
As for vendor non-specific.. I think just about any common platform of routing will do. What I hate to see is something that has to be run on a certain box. Whether it be RIP44d, or any other specifically modified routing protocol. You don't see Cisco's specific standards being used across platforms, because they can only be used with other Cisco boxes.
While I am stating all this all to obvious information, i do realize there have been some very long nights and likely some personal sacrifices that folks have made to have 44Net what it is today. i just think there needs to be a road map developed like any project, to make sure everyone that has the common interest be allowed to play, and not be locked down to what flavor they have to have. Be it PPP, VPN, BGP with some redundancy, vanilla, chocolate... I don't have the answer, because it's too big to wrap my head around this early in my game. I'd be willing to be part of something that can define and help others though.