I confirm that my Dell mini 910 works with any of the solutions: b43 module + firmware, OR wl.
And I use only wpa supplicant, less dependency than wicd. It is so easy to take a demo text wpa.config and customise.
As kernel number will rise up from 2.6.33, maybe WL close source will not be kept updated.
My advice is to use open source where/when ever you can, even (at the beginning) it is a little work to make a small extension (as to put some files in /lib/firmware and mksquash them, then auto load with onboot.lst)
Because firmware is fixed for longer time, not use boot parameters to blacklist module, and kernel module are build into TC base, etc.
Laziness and luxury is paid by bloat and RAM resources eat.
Amazing how small things could be complicated, just to "help" novice (aka: not wish to RTfM/read the docs)
I do not wish to be rude, but IMHO Linux is about KISS (Keep It Simple S...er). If one wants all turnkey out of the box, why mess with TC? World is full of Ubuntu or XP / Vvista, which JUST works.