Even though I'm a long time linux user (~10 years), I tend to agree with the OP. On my home PC I started by building my own linux, later migrated to SUSE, and now use Gentoo. If I don't touch the configuration for a few months after the initial install and then try to upgrade a media player (or some other app), lo and behold: can't upgrade just one package because the whole system is out of date! I'm not convinced that using Ubuntu or something would solve my linux woes. It's simply a pain in the butt to keep a linux system up to date (although it's rock solid if you're happy with the versions of the apps you initially installed.) Everything is in a constant state of change and something is always broken.

I find it's much the same with the N770/N800. I'm afraid to use it for any real useful purpose because I know most if not all of the existing apps are basically beta versions, but worse yet, the OS itself is basically an alpha version. A new OS with more whizz bang features (and hopefully some bug fixes) will be out every 6 months, so why even bother installing apps or entering data? All I use it for is Gizmo calls overseas, because that's the only app that I need to reinstall and it seems to be fairly reliable (although it's buggy as well.)

So I'm beginning to see why one would want something like a Mac for a computer and why something like an iPhone will some day make a lot of sense. At least you can trust Apple to produce something that "just works" and not pull the rug out from under your feet all the time.

Yes, the open source model works to an extent and there are some great apps out there, but the platform you run them on has to be stable before the apps will do you any good.