actually it's not maps I'm that bothered about, it's more the vitality of the platform and community more generally.

The N900 is the first "phone" device, and is entering a very competitive and fast-paced marketplace (iphone, android especially)

Nokia must keep hold of that community for future of the platform. I can see sw constraints make evolving M5 a problem -- so if that's the case come out and support M6 on the N900.

Not only support it, but make it an early tech preview. Gain all the additional feedback from the early adopter community so that when new hardware is launched using M6 it is very very good (many issues will be hw independent).

So Nokia need to convert their concerned community into a wonderful highly skilled asset that can help drive maemo forward.

This isn't the same as just backporting to M5 or waiting for maps on M5 -- that's more a BAU case, it's more a case of saying "ok you early adopters. come with us. Help us build the future"