It felt good to read your post ragnar.

I don't believe anyone expects Nokia to officially respond to forum hype, so let's take that permanently off the table of discussion, okay?

The essential point here is that rumors emerge in the absence of facts. Granted, there are indeed details which Nokia MUST hold secret-- few are arguing that. And not everyone expects a day-to-day diary of details. That's unrealistic.

But the fact remains that there are STILL communication gaps that can be easily filled, with proactive dispensations designed to keep the tablet users (and especially developers) encouraged. This could be as basic, for one example, as an occasional "we're still working on getting Skype ready so hold on!".

It is the dearth of such bon mots that rumor and user-generated hype arise. The element that seems strangely lost on Nokia is that the tablets poke farther into the Open Source community than any device of its kind. That has tickled the interest of hardcore folks who strongly disagree with the percentage of proprietary components involved. It may well be impossible to make these OS advocates completely happy, but in my opinion more outreach should be done than has been. This doesn't mean giving up trade secrets, a conclusion some Nokians mistkenly assume from such requests. It means being as open and honest as reasonably possible and striving for consensus mutually beneficial to Nokia and its intelligent purchaser base.

The tablet users are far more savvy than your average Mac or Windows user. To a large extent, the community has been deeply steeped in the Linux world which is far, far different than anything involved in commercial enterprises. I realize the development team should be able to get that, but that understanding doesn't seem apparent to the tablet community, which in general is very surprised at some moves... and especially the silence.

The sad and ironic thing is, were this true Open Source, the community would have solved those significant lingering bugs long ago, and cut your development time by a large portion. They know this, and it galls them. They WANT to help. They are frustrated at not being able to, as they would in any other true Open Source endeavor.

But, lacking that level of involvement, at least throw a bone or two out to the community on occasion. No trade secrets. No defensive posturing, either. Just a periodic "hey guys, we're still alive!". That sort of effort can work up some truly important good will, and perhaps mitigate the forum frenzy.

Just my 2 cents.