I find the N900's compatibility with GNU/Linux to be just fine. I suspect one of the issues you're having is that there is little developer interest in the exact thing you're trying to do, though you can always commit to what you want by donating to the developers working on it. I still do think you'll be happier if you drink the cloud koolaid and use syncevolution even before it gets the bluetooth sync (which is what you're asking for).

I'm also not sure what you mean about nokia telling the linux community to take a flying leap. I suspect you are actually plain wrong. The argument can be seriously leveled against Palm and Google. However, the attack on Nokia's FOSS approach would have to be significantly more nuanced, since maemo allows root access, uses accepted SDKs (hildon and soon to be QT), contributes to projects (see the contributions to the bluetooth stack), releases code, and carries few binary blobs. It's the closest a Free software purist has to a Free software telephone unless you consider openmoko a serious contender.

tarek : )