Sadly, I fully agree.

I think I've been pretty consistent on the point that the increasing openness and the operating system are not disappointing to me. (Although I've begun to question whether the openness is truly Nokia's doing--but that's probably my cynicism at this point.)

I even considered that the N900 MIGHT be a worthwhile device for me to purchase... but in the intervening time (from full announcements, specs and pictures... to the moment it was actually being shipped and available for purchase) I had to do some real thinking and, ultimately, had to remind myself about all the frustrations I've had to deal with whenever I had a problem with Nokia hardware.

Maemo has been like a dangling carrot--it's delicious, it's right there in front of you but it's ALWAYS just right there in front of you.. that promise of EXACTLY what you want as a consumer. GREAT device with an excellent operating system and openness... but the true appreciation of that carrot is AAALWAYS just out of reach with customer service issues (parts? stylus!? ... SOMETHING??) and the appearance of an uncaring attitude toward customers.

Open source is a good move--but as a hardware manufacturer, openness all by itself doesn't make a piece of hardware valuable--it simply makes it MORE valuable than not valuable at all. But if you treat your customers badly, "more valuable" is still falling short of being "valuable" and you'll have lost customers which will be MUCH harder to win back.

I could argue that the N900 misses the mark as the device *I* want.. but even if I wanted to try it out and reconsider, I can't because of the consistently appalling customer service history I've had after purchasing MULTIPLE Nokia products. After a while, you begin to learn what to expect from Nokia and you begin to look elsewhere.