Wrong on two counts I believe. There was a print edition of the beta rules for sale, only the pdf was free. I believe they have said the final rules would also be released as a free srd in addition to the full color deluxe for pay hardcover. At least last I heard they were discussing that for the final rules and leaning that way.
Think about the precedent from WotC with 3e D&D. Did you go entirely off of the free srd or did you buy the books?
How does that make my first statement wrong? Naturally, if you wanted the book, you had to pay for it -- I took that as a given. You yourself admit that SRD (in electronic format) equals "free rules", and so does a .PDF (also in electronic format), right? And, both are equally hard to use, in my opinion, unless you print them.
Yes, I bought the Beta rules (just as I did with 3.0 books), and also printed the .PDF for my players. As for 3.5 campaigns, I've only used the SRD, because in my opinion the scope of changes was too little to justify buying the books. Now, if the final PF rules would be just an "updated" Beta with minor changes, would I buy them -- especially if I can simply print the updates for free? Nah, I probably wouldn't... maybe out of support, but I think I would rather wait for PF 2.0. However, I believe there will be enough changes that I will want the book.