*Gives Zuhalter a big hug - without an Umlaut I'm afraid.*

You are asking exactly the right question. The answer really depends on you. For myself, I have zero Linux experience. My OSS experience is with Open Office and Firefox. And you're right - this place is scary for new users. Take a look at how many posters have barely ventured out of the 'shipping' threads.

My understanding (as a non-tech) is that what excites me most about the n900 is the potential. It has the most exciting hardware spec going - but out of the box it doesn't do itself justice. Case in point is the FM radio: it has a receiver, but no software. Fortunately, some kind soul has written that. Same goes for bluetooth file transfer.

The anxiety is that people are warning that as a new OSS based device, n900 will likely be a bit unsteady on its feet, at least to begin with. Which will require patience. Add to that the reality that this is a new platform: some of the apps written for maemo 4 will be brought across quite quickly. But if you want loads of things for it to do, you will have to wait. The list of apps is growing daily, but it will probably never compare with an iphone (which it won't actually need to cos it has a decent browser).

So the questions for me were around "Do I need a new phone now or should I wait till it's more steady?" "Do I buy something that will do what I want out of the box, but have a lot less potential and be less exciting in the long run?" (Plenty of s60 devices out there right now would do more of what I want out of the box than n900) "Am I prepared to be patient with the device if it's having a bad hair day, to learn how to file a bug if I find one, and to ask nicely for a facility I want someone to write?"

By all means ask your questions. There are theads around for that. Or create one of your own.

You are welcome here. There are lots of highly technical people (who use highly technical language some times) but they are mostly very decent folks (wouldn't be here if they weren't) who won't bite. And there are bears-of-very-little-brain like me here too.