I bought my Bulldozer motherboard in July 2011 and the processors didn't release until October 2011. Back then we could plug our old AMD processors into the mobo without issue though.
Same here.
I got the AM3+ MB and put a 955 in there to tide me over until bulldozer hit.... It was so bad I skipped the 8150. I did eventually put an 8350 in there and that is what I still have.
Going forward, before I make any MB purchases, I am waiting for actual zen results first. It does not even have to beat intels latest and greatest, it just has to be in the general ballpark with a slight price reduction. If by some miracle it does just as well if not better, I'll pay the same intel prices. If it's garbage, I'll reluctantly jump to intel. On the gpu side though, amd all the way.