First of all I think a lot of people who ordered the box expected to see it arrive before the Easter break - certainly the timing of the release would make you think that; this was one of the reasons I ordered without knowing too much about the product. As for the above remark about downloaders getting a free physical copy, why should they! - people that ordered the box version paid more for it - they're the ones paying for the plastic and cardboard. I think it all boils down to how you treat your customers - Curious labs seems to have shot themselves in the foot here. They could have sandbagged us if they wanted: they could have said it's coming out on a certain date then they could have released it earlier.
I bought Softimage XSI Foundation a while back. On ordering it online I was able to prolong the life of the demo and the physical box came 5 days later - now that's what I call service. I guess I'll get stuck in and start learning XSI next week and wonder how Curious Labs got things so wrong.