I bought the N900 expecting to get a "hacky" phone which allowed me to do lots of my work (web development/server management), but not necessarily in a particularly well-designed package.

However, I have been amazed with just how well thought out the N900 is. Not only does it include and integrate with standard Linux components very well (e.g. PulseAudio, GStreamer), but the custom OSSO interface and parts are excellent as well. For my purposes it is by far the best mobile device I've ever used, and far more polished than I was expecting.

I think the reason so many people dislike it is that they are expecting a more traditional, but very easy-to-use and polished smartphone, like Android or IPhone. The N900 definitely isn't this device, but for my purposes I cannot think of a better mobile device - it has completely replaced my netbook, and the proper multitasking makes it a bit of a powerhouse. Plus, being able to fire up the SDK and compile existing software with the minimum of fuss is just awesome!

I think people who don't like the N900 have probably not done their research and simply bought the wrong device for their purposes.