Frankly the Symbian "feature packs" were no better... there was virtually nothing between the different hardwares of the 3rd edition phones - certainly nothing which would have stopped the majority of the applications, system features and configurations from being made available on "older" devices.

Again, Apple have it right on that front. The OS gets proper upgrades with charges for when the phone is out of cycle. It's pretty fair and extends the life of devices in accordance with their hardware platform's capabilities and not just snuffing them out because your network/manufacturer tells you it is time.

There are strong similarities to Microsoft bringing out Vista, only to rapidly replace it with another expensive iteration (albeit a good one) in windows 7. People bought into the Vista upgrade expecting a certain longevity to it only to find it hastily replaced as MS panicked out a hasty replacement in response to having gotten it wrong the first time. Again I draw a direct Nokia parallel with the N93/N93i fiasco which I unfortunately suffered through.

The crux of the problem really though is the following:
N900 will:
be upgraded to Maemo 6
will not be upgraded to Maemo 6
will be updated for years to come
won't be supported because it is being superceded
Maemo 6 is coming out in 6 months
Maemo 6 is coming out in 1 year
Maemo 6 is being dropped in favour of MeeGo
MeeGo and Maemo 6 will run side by side
N900 will run MeeGo and Maemo 6 applications...
...actually maybe only some...
...actually only those developed with QT which is/isn't coming to the N900 (whatever that means to your average non-tech-minded phone user)
...etcetera...

There is so much garbage floating out there and Nokia do worse than nothing by way of informing their users, they actually fan the crosstalk and rumours to the point where noone can really know what to expect.

If you wait until they maybe do what they have done in the past and drop your expensive device like a stone, then, well... it's too late. If you try and proactively preempt the behaviour they have shown in the past by trying to make it known while there is still time that you won't stand for, well then you're a toy-throwing troll.

There are no toys, there is no pram... just an expensve set of bricks that I for one can't afford to keep buying just because Nokia says so. Reasonable longevity, value for money and continued support that you can know about in advance and rely on is not unreasonable.

There are UMPCs which cost less and are more dependable in the above terms so why should N900 owners expect any less?