jalladin, I won't pretend to be a sage on this topic, however I will give you an idea of my natural progression with Maemo and the N810. First I think the N810 is the best toy I've ever had. Now I say that because I really like Linux. For me, i started out with the default OS installed then did the first upgrade after a few hours and was pretty happy. I tested the device with Android and that was fun for a little while however I haven't played with that in a very long time. I've since been using the Diablo release and have cloned the OS to an SD card because I wanted to have more room for installed applications. I've been using Linux for just over 10 years and this little machine runs Linux well. There really are a lot of applications out there and a lot of options such as downloading a big file and loading Debian as you have read previously. I use mine primarily for hacking/penetration testing for work, navigation (both car and hiking) as my personal computer for all times traveling/my communication device (this device is great for that), and as my remote control to my home computers/DVR boxes. So far I've been able to do all of this within Diablo. Also for less common, but not infrequent uses it is my mp3/ogg player, movie player and book reader. I, much like jaem, believe that Mer is something to look forward to and will probably move to it when the time comes. It is Linux so if you need to do something you can always find someone to help you or you can figure it out and post your process. Either way to me it is not an issue as to what OS should i put on it, but which one should i start out with first. To me that is the fun part.. IMHO that is where the Iphone fails and Windows based devices suffer. You can try to tweak them but you have serious difficulty replacing the OS completely. This device comes with an invitation to really explore. Just to be clear I like the Iphone, just not willing to pay for it.