You obviously haven't had a closer look to the N9 yet - especially if you compare it to iPhone. "Sheeps" are the ones who don't even bother to look at settings, so start with that :

-Applications don't need to be installed via Nokia Store, but you need to enable 3rd party software installation in settings. Furthermore it's easy and free to set up a Nokia account. I don't see a problem with that. Apps like "MeeCatalog" also offer access to repositories.

-Terminal & more can also be activated in settings (called Developer mode)

-N9 and N900 are two different devices, certain things are def. different on N9 and Maemo5 gives more freedom. Search this forum for Inception (or the handy app N9 QTweak including various hacks) if you want a more open system.

Hope you get more familiar with MeeGo Harmattan