I was a Palm man for a few years.

I originally bought the Palm m505 (colour screen, sd/mmc card, 8mb of memory) and the os version was 4.0. I installed dozens of applications and even bought a couple too (mobi-office).

A couple of years later I bought a Palm T3 (larger colour screen, sd/mmc card, 64mb of memory) and the os version was 5.2.1.
Thankfully the T3 was backward-compatible and I could still use my collection of software for it.

There was a point to this post.....
...Ah yes.

Many of the software titles available for my T3 were also available for the older version of the OS (4.0).
I was down to the developers to ensure the applications were available for both versions of the OS.

Now if Nokia/MeeGo/Maemo 6/etc ensure the next OS is flexible enough to install on a maemo5-based device then great - everyone wins in a major way.

If we discover that the next version of maemo will never run on the n900 then it will be up to the application developers to decide to release for both platforms. Potentially a crappy scenario but unlikely to happen.

The next update of maemo5 will include the QT libraries - this is essentially the core of maemo 6/MeeGo/WhoCares platform.

Developing for both platforms (maemo5 & "maemo 6") suddenly got a lot easier.

Even if the n900 never gets the next version of maemo then it still a great computer/phone. I'm sure developers will ensure that thier software runs on both platforms - it's in thier best interests to expose thier software to a wide audience.

Talking about the n900 as the only maemo5 device is a moot point and the "debate" of upgrading the n900 to the next version has been done to death.

At the moment we have many options available to us and that is a "good thing"(tm).

If Nokia themselves do not port the next version of the maemo os to the n900 then someone else will - it's open source.

Can people please stop moaning about maemo5 and the n900?

The n900 has a very long and useful life ahead of it. If you are still not happy then sell you n900 and get an iPhone instead. Then Apple can be responsible for your device instead of you.