I certainly hope you are right, but the only way to make sure it actually
happens is make sure everyone is aware of how it can go wrong.
It appears to be a work in progress, but if no one says anything
they would drop it without finishing it.
Virtually every single software package in Maemo lacks the print function,
all because someone thought it was 'best practice for the product'.
Rather than just sit meekly by wishfully hoping that Nokia
"just does the right thing" it is better to say what needs to be said.
They have incorporated a proper iso-8601 time locale in Meego,
and I am quite certain that only occurred because there were
people who actually toed the line based on what others complained about
and called BS on the locales thing they did in the n900.
It did not just happen:
someone said it, someone heard it, and the idea eventually filtered
into the place where someone could actually do something about it.

True enough,
but if we let ourselves get suckered into buying locked-down hardware
then they will expand on that in the OS as well. (oh - wait...)
The only way to say no to all of that is to simply point it out and
walk away leaving inventory on the shelf.
If they insist on having something like that they should at least
clarify how the consumer (he owns it - right?) can deal with it on his own,
without needing to take time off from work to visit the local Nokia Care.

yeah, you could do that to your own phone and we would all have a
good laugh over it, share codes on how to do it best or safest - sure.

I am over-the-top on that, but only because the only way
Nokia would ever recognize the enormity of this is to have enough people
explaining this to them in every language and venue that they can be reached.
Yes I know TMO is a poor place but there are people here who
will hear about it and eventually remember it at a crucial moment to
the people in Nokia who might actually be able to prevent this insanity.
I am on the other side of the planet from anyone who is in any kind of
position to bend ears at Nokia, and I am certain they are mostly listening
to only the news and information they actually want to hear.

Nokia was and still is justified in bricking stolen prototype(s),
but the industrial winds are blowing in the direction of building
this type of product-suicide into every production handset and retaining
for the corporation the activation codes to brick units.
How stupid this is defies words and any description is just inadequate.
Just wait till someone gets their hands on the list of kill-codes
for several million handphones/tablets/whatever and turns off
an entire inventory on some Saturday night.
It would create an instant stock-price evaporation of epic proportions.
Although Apple doesn't get any love for coming up with this m0r0n1c idea,
the place of honor will probably eventually go to Motorola or Samsung.
Some disgruntled employee(s) will probably eventually go home
from work some day with the keys to their customers daily lives
and there will be no way to stop them from completely eradicating
one of these firms in the space of a few hours work while the company sleeps.

Yes 2011 should be an interesting year indeed.
Now, back to coding - cheers !