[Disclaimer: This was written bitter, sad and depressed about the current state of s/w on the N810]

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my N810 and I think this is a great community but after having been a NIT user for 2-3 months now I can't but to feel the below...

We all love free. Community driven development. Sense of self-empowered and independent from the big, evil corporations.
Thing is..when it comes to a technical device like the NIT that derives its value from functionality from software applications I feel that it may well be a failing strategy.

Individual development is fail?
The vast majority of applications for the NIT seems to be developed by individuals.
While passion and being part of a community is wonderful - a single developer for an application is also a recipe for disaster.
The person gets bored, moves on to something else, 'real life' takes over, he has to sell his device, freemantle looks shiny - you name it - and poof...the development is in 9/10 cases now dead.

Forget about future enhancements, upgrades, support when issues comes up.

As a user I get frustrated and have to spend time looking for another solution, if I can even find it.
In the end, with enough such experiences the feeling that the device is made up of amateur (as in non-paid), unsupported and aging applications may very well be enough to drive current and future users away.

I can't count the number of times I've come across a user-developed application that seems really great...but where the development was abandoned a long time ago.

Had the application(s) been developed by a company/organization that have a contingency plan for the applications (and developers) in their portfolio it might not had been free - but it may have made for a much better user experience.

So where is Nokia?
I love(d) Nokia and it hurts me to see how, at least to me, they have failed to support the NITs. I can't see how they have not continued to keep up relationships with the software developers of pre-installed applications that in way were selling points of the device (Skype just being one example) so that new releases of these applications are made available.
If the manufacturer of a product tells me to F off for long enough, I may well say the same right back at them and take my money somewhere else - and that goes for future products as well.

So it's all bad huh?
No of course not.

I love seeing - and in some cases using - the amazing applications that some very smart people have come up with here. The latest Google Voice application is a great example of that.

Thing is, I have already fallen into a mindset of that;
a) I am beta testing any application I install,
b) Developers are really enthusiastic - but in x months they'll be on to something else and the app will fade away.

So what to do then Mr Smarty-pants?

1) Put pressure on Nokia to support the base applications that were part of the reason we [I] bought the device in the first place (Skype just one example).

2) Be open to selling/purchasing applications. There are tens of iPhone applications I can think of that I would pay for to have on my NIT.
People should be more willing to sell their applications. If you have committed to accept payment for your development three things can/will happen;
a) The developer, gains a sense of responsibility to maintain the application and not drop it as soon as something seems more fun,
b) If the application is good and gains a user-base it may very well be possible and even desirable to hand it over/sell it to someone should the initial developer have to phase out,

3) Nokia should provide incentive to companies to develop [and sell] applications running on the NIT. I really feel that Nokia has let the device and its users out in the cold.

4) Specifically to developers here: Once you have a sufficient user-base - meaning a lot of people that really enjoy and use your application. Start taking some responsibility if you are the only person developing it. What is your contingency plan if you get bored with the application/NITs next week?
I don't know the answer to how to accomplish this but I feel that if the maemo.org community/board embraces user-developed applications some of the responsibility goes back there as well.
Maybe once an application has reached a certain popularity/download count it gets 'tagged' as a 'continuity application'. Source-code is shared and another developer gets tasked with being the 'support' person for that application should it be needed. I really don't know, all I know is that right now it's not working with the approach of;
[Developer]: "Look what I did!"

[Users]: "Oh man this is great. I luv it!" [Clicks thanks]

[Developer]: "Thanks! I'm working on SO many cool additions to it!"

[Users]: "Hey, it's been two months since I saw you post. Any news?"

[Developer]: [offline]


Things doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. Enthusiast-driven freeware applications can co-exist with company owned and sold applications. The way it is now, is honestly a frikk'n mess.


Hey, bring that up on the Maemo summit