i bought my n900 in february (ie I am a maemo noob) and within one week I was able to flash the phone incl. emmc with my Windows 7 64bit pc. All I did was google it, follow the instructions I found, and flashed it in one try without any problems at all.

I just think N900 is not for everyone.. and sadly most ppl dont realize until its too late. From the phone was first released, I knew it was an enthusiast phone (hence the open source os) and there was always the possibility maemo wouldnt become a mainstream. all of this i got from just researching.