Then you wouldn't understand the N900 by principle. It's not suited to the consumerist thinking you convey. It is a device with a really distinguished operation system, a programmable, open, flexible framework. It is like a fine drink: not something to get drunk with, but something to get acquainted to, to enjoy, to feel in your lips and tongue. The N900 is a device to spend time with.

I guess you would never touch Desktop Command Execution widget or Queen Beacon Widget. You would never find how to make a scrollable wallpaper by yourself and would rely on others to provide them to you. You would never, ever set up ssh access to your N900 to have some remote stuff done, install software or fix problems.

It's not even comparable. There is no OS like Maemo currently. Even Android or WebOS, for lack of GNU components, do not even get close. Maemo has an actual GNU/Linux stack, with all the gimmicks - from gstreamer to dbus, from X and GTK+ and xkb to HAL and full shell scripting.

That's what you don't get and if depends on Apple and alike companies you will never get. The other OS's make you merely a consumer, a spectator, a buyer. The N900 sucks you into it, to make part of its ecosystem. It makes you a participating "digital citizen". You have control of your stuff, not others. That's what makes it wonderful and is the shiniest part of open source.