And that's the problem. As it stands, no alternative that really seems to be forward thinking and concrete has come from this "experiment" called Maemo quite yet. Nothing has solidified yet.

Ovi is going down a path - to the untrained eye, such as my own - of micropayments ($1 apps) and a store front and pretty darn much the same as the other systems that are much maligned around here surely but slowly.

This whole "walled garden" hatred has honestly produced nothing when all of this freedom has been given on the N900. Absolutely nothing so far. An odd upgrade path that's not fully laid out by corporate (yet), a total lack of apps that improve upon functionality, developers waiting to hear if their apps will be ok in the next iteration fully, already installed apps not updated, et al.

If that's freedom, it stinks. Being able to pop open terminal, gain root on a tacked on phone experience on a tablet isn't freedom. It's being part of an experiment. One that if you have certain wants (like using the forward camera for Skype), needs (like syncing to a Mac) or desires (PR 1.2) then... you're probably upset, disgruntled or disenfranchised.

If I want to code Python on the go though... maaaaaaaaaaan I'd be in love. But I'm not part of that group - I do that on my laptop already. I want the aforesaid things... and won't get it despite being so "free" to do so/get it. Hasn't happened yet.