I'm a relative newcomer to Maemo - The N900 is my first device. I bought it specifically because I appreciated the open source nature of the maemo operating system, and the device it runs upon. I transitioned over after being frustrated with the iPhone lockdown. In doing so, I gave up a lot of the good things about the iPhone, including its considerable wealth of applications, because having a phone that could run Linux, load media onto without iTunes etc... was more important.

I could have gone with an Android handset. Android would have wrested control from Apple as well, and their platform is still somewhat open, and has considerably greater development. But no, I figured that I'd support the "purest" Linux on a GSM phone, one that allowed programming in any language, didn't require a dev kit or license etc..

I bought the N900 expecting to be able to upgrade. It is completely contrary to the "open" nature of the rest of the OS, the rest of the hardware, not to be able to. When I choose Arch Linux, I expect to be able to pacman -Syu and get the latest packages. When I choose Ubuntu, I know that 9.04 can be upgraded to 9.10 and that 10.04 will be in my future as well. Hell, even the iPhone - the Anti Maemo/MeeGo - upgrades its OS even on older hardware. If the install isn't as simple as simply an OTA update, that's fine. I don't mind it being more like installing an OS "from scratch", but churn out firmware and an OS, package it up in a little program for Linux/Windows/Mac, connect via USB, and install the new OS!

If Maemo5 is the terminal point for the N900, then I'm done. I'm done with Nokia. I'm not paying $600 for a "hacker" ready device with an open OS, only to be told "Sorry, time to buy another one". That's the reason I came HERE, to get away from that. I'm not going to be buying the new "N1000" that comes with MeeGo, believing that I'll be able to update. Its not worth throwing my money away. Right now ambiguous language is not helping the situation!

I know this is all up in the air for the time being and hope Nokia makes the right choice in the end.