Very good post. This is where the problem is stemming from, ie proprietry software that is an essential part of the Maemo os for the N900. Nokia up to now have not released any closed parts of the os because of legal reasons, patents etc. I have always wanted the code released from Nokia and have had many a discussion on here regarding this and no one came up with any solid answers, always pointing to legal problems over this. So your idea of building our own firmware is great providing the community will allow this to happen, IF it could then just maybe Maemo.org can stand on it's own ground and mean something to Maemo providing of course if the funding can be raised. Please keep the comments and idea's coming.