A Seattle Times article linked to above indicates how unhappy Boeing is about the FAA decision. This shows exactly how divorced the business droids have become from reality:
There was a very real even though low-probability risk of the battery issues resulting in a serious incident; in fact one fire-fighter has already been injured, which is more than enough harm for a "safe" design.
The FAA with the grounding did them a huge service, reducing to zero the risk of a serious incident, giving them time to deploy a fix, and reassuring passengers that the fix will be a *real* fix.
If Boeing execs want to convincingly demonstrate confidence in their plane, I suggest they schedule a test flight to Japan and back for their wives and children.
Edmund