Writing a cross-platform media management system that everyone already uses is easier than changing a few constants in their firmware source code and rebuilding it?
RIM "syncs" with iTunes using a standalone program. It is harder to provide an excellent user experience with two programs than with one, but it is doable.
Palm is free-riding on Apple's software, and whatever you may think of that, they are also providing their users with an unreliable user experience that they have no business advertising as a key feature. They're also putting in lots of effort to do that, effort which could be spent on a seamless iTunes sync that didn't rely on USB hackery.
The article suggests that the workaround took ~40 hours.
Plus, it's not just "free-riding" on Apple's software, it's using Apple's music distribution hub.
You may be thinking it's as simple as writing a winamp skin and having a "PalmTunes" installer disc come with each Pre, but it's not...
Actually, this is a reference to Palm saying they will continue making the Pre sync with iTunes until a fix would take more than 40 hours to implement. They said the last fix took just a few minutes, and I'm sure this one took about the same amount of time (add one more line of code to change the Manufacturer ID in addition to the Vendor ID when media sync is selected).