Welcome to the forum. The n900 is a computer first, phone second. So if you would enjoy having a full Linux computer in your pocket, and care only about basic phone functions then it might be for you.

It is not for programmers/devs only, but you should have an interest in tweaking things and be willing to get your hands dirty and learn some new stuff. Maemo is NOT dead and neither is the n900. There is still work being done every day on the open source parts of Maemo and Meego is coming down the pipeline shortly as well.

Also check out this post from Flandry that sums up some of the key issues/concerns about the n900 at the present time:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...034#post842034