At $500+ for the N900, I don't expect my "rate of consumption" to exceed more than one every couple years. Rampant consumerism isn't exactly a forte of mine. At this point the only way I'd move to a newer device is if it had insanely good capabilities or was -even more open- than the N900. I suspect that in terms of open-ness, the N900 will be the peak with a bunch of closed source crap piled on to locked devices down the line.

And I'm sure all those device manufacturers out there -love- that, since you don't get all up in their stuff asking for drivers. They don't people like me, who pick up a device and want to be able to support it, even if just by themselves, for well past the warranty expiration date. That's less sales for them.