Can you please define "barely" any updates?
I'd suggest to you that, like most handsets these days, the N900 (and the N9 so far) has received as many updates as is deemed appropriate for the device life cycle, and in real terms, more than many devices, including many android handsets.
Neither the N900 or the N9 are based on an OS that was created with a guaranteed development update cycle like android, and we have been fortunate, as end users to receive the type of support that we've already had, due in part to the efforts of the many enthusiasts within Nokia who have put so much hard work into Maemo and the N9.
The expectation of so many that Nokia has some moral obligation to provide 6 (or even 3!) monthly firmware updates seems to me, more a reflection of the age/lack of maturity of some users on this forum, than a real and pragmatic understanding that, (for now) nokia has pushed all Linux based OS development to the back shelf in favour of their WP smartphone strategy.
Given the nature of the device and the market segment that has the most interest in it, either as an evolution of previous Maemo NIT's or due to it's linux underpinnings, I would be astounded to think that ANYONE bought the N9, not fully cognizant of the fact that it was announced as a dead platform even before it was released....