Very good post. I do agree with most of what you said.
As a new N900 user like you, I also want to second that this phone is not just for geeks. It’s surely one of the best smartphone out there considering that I know nothing about Linux and still using this phone happily.

OC and NITDroid are working nicely despite my lack of Linux knowledge. Thanks to developers and this helpful community.

OS wise, I think it's the best and most powerful out there. Nothing beats the real multitask and the dashboard this phone has to offer.
The learning curve is not bad at all. IMO, I think it’s easier than trying to mess around with iTunes. And when I say I know nothing about Linux, I don’t even know the basic Linux commands etc ls, top, uptime, copy and cut.

(just tried NITDroid the other day, I think the UI is a bit confusing, or maybe i’m too used to N900)

As for screen, I like resistive screen better for using with my nail (yes I have long nail ) I think it’s more responsive than my iphone 3GS capacitive screen. I am very happy to be able to use my nail to navigate it rather than my fat finger tip.

As for battery, thanks to someone in this community that shed me some light about having MSN on can drain your battery (I know how stupid I was to think that MSN shouldn’t drain battery ).

Nowadays, the battery easily lasts 14 hours with my average use. 3 hours of watching music videos whilst browsing websites, 30 minutes calls, 1 hour of messing around with the phone. (Those are average use in my opinion).

All in all, I am a happy camper and thanks everyone in this community for the nice experience with the phone.