Support for screen rotation would be a real nice addition to the Maemo platform. Unfortunately, I don't think it is real high on Nokia's priority list. While it is possible to run the Hildon UI on a laptop or other non NIT device with a high resolution screen, I wonder what accommodation there is currently for running with a lower horizontal resolution, given that the toolbars would be "sqwished."

You might be interested in this article that talks about some of the limitations/faults of the Hildon UI, from the perspective of a Newton fan. The Newton is definitely one device from which anyone designing a UI for a touchscreen based product could learn a thing or two.

Karoliina is also giving a talk about using Hildon on other devices than the NITs at Guadec. It looks like video may be available, so it might be worth watching.

http://guadec.org/node/547