There's an app that lets you create more profiles. (Edit: my bad, it's still in development repositories. But hey, if you miss them THAT much.... Also, big red warning here if you decide to go commando and install.)

As for ringtones, I don't miss them AT ALL. What I really want is the voice kit that announced the caller. You know, RING! It's that guy again! Ring!

IMO, that's way better, no custom ringtones, one ringtone so you know when it's your phone, no memorizing several files, you know. Works on new contacts, too.

However, to each his/her own.

IRC, access to the SIM card operator menu is missing, too. Does anyone know how to do it?

What you describe is one way to do it. However, I think market expectations are changing to faster and more frequent upgrades.

One used to follow a waterfall development model, specifying requirements, developing the sw, testing, fixing bugs, more testing, more bug fixing etc. Once you're ready, a lot of time has gone by, and the delivered functionality based on original specs will be outdated and surpassed by faster moving competitors.

So the dev approach for cutting edge devices was changed a while a go to a more agile process, giving us faster updates, more trial and error, more beta devices, at the cost of more bugs in the experienced by the end user.

For a device like the N900 based on Linux, supported by a community, I definitely prefer a fast update cycle with the risk of experiencing more bugs. To a big degree I bought the N900 for its potential and not for the at the time available function set. I was okay once I saw that my basic requirements were fulfilled.

But I do want new features, functions, apps, features steadily streaming to my device.

Now, this might a nightmare for some (think corporate users on closely managed networks), but software heaven for me.

I see no evidence of that at all. Now, you may question how quickly they're bringing out tools integration between Qt Creator and MADDE; but everything I've seen of and heard from Nokia says they know the reinforcement cycle of users->developers->applications->users->...

They've even changed the strategy - with Qt 4.6 now being an officially supported beta for Maemo 5; rather than Qt being official only in Harmattan.

I've been a Debian user for about 10 years, a Linux user for 15, and a computer user for 20 (I'm 30, myself). I've seen a lot of devices and OSes come and go (Sharp Zaurus C7x0, Palm 5, Kyocera's first palm smartphone, IBM PS/2 with microchannel, DOS/Novell, OS/2, Win95, NT4, QNX) ....

One thing that strikes me about the n900/Maemo is that its team seems to be composed of people who really, really get it. They get versioning. They get package and update distribution. They get openness. They get community. And they seem to really get the engineering/marketing compromise.

Honestly, I've only had my n900 for about a week now, but virtually everything I've played with is done they way I - as a Unix user with 15 years experience - think it should be done. None of this "oh crap... this is gonna come back to haunt us in a year" or inexplicable configuration choices. No silly/lazy hacks. No quirks. A few bugs, sure. But it's only been out for a couple months.

The major decisions seem to have been made by people who have "been there, done that." Library choices, base packages, the sound engine, the extras repository, the SDK..

It's downright exciting thinking about the possibilities here.

If Nokia's marketing guys play it right, Maemo could be the single unified handheld device operating system. There is almost no long-term reason to choose another OS. There are simply no long-term advantages to anything else except current app support.

Maemo is well established (Debian, X11, plus Nokia did their job right), it's open and free to implement (less of course Nokia's quite excellent proprietary extensions, giving them a head start and competitive advantage), rock solid (crashes should be obsolete; generally speaking, Linux doesn't crash). Secure, extensible, and open.

Think about it: we've seen the coming and going of DOS, OS/2, Windows 9x, QNX, PalmOS (ie. Garnet), non-BSD MacOS, and a whole host of other OSes.

The Linux stack (kernel + GNU userspace + X11) has outlived all of them. And that's what Maemo is based on.

It's a good time to be an engineer.

So anyway, to the original poster... relax a little. If this device isn't polished enough for you, and lacks the apps you need, sell your device and get something else. There are lots of great devices out there.

Right now Maemo represents an incredible potential, and for many - like me - literally a dream come true. A proper functioning pocket unix system.

I completely agree with you in this nice summary. Especially the the first point is a very important issue. Other manufacturers also offer new OS versions to their customers - and heck I would even pay 5$ for a maemo 6 upgrade (yeah I know: it's OpenSource - but porting to the N900 might cost money).

I really hope that Nokia recognizes that the Smartphone-market is changing. I am not gonna buy a new device just to get a new OS version.
I believe that sales numbers for the N9xx (whatever it might be called) would probably not decrease if Nokia would offer an update to Maemo 6 to N900 users. I think showing their customers that devices get long-term support and updates makes those devices even more attractive.

If people want new hardware features (multitouch, better camera, ...) they should buy a new device. But if people only want a new OS they should be able to stick with their current device (as long as it is not older than 2 or 3 years).

I use mine for:
remote pc (vncviewer)
listen to music (in car with fm transmitter)
surf the internet
Use IRC chat (irssi)
Programming (python)
Weather (omweather)
exercise (pedometer)
text editing (leafpad)
mucking about with Linux (easydeb)
watch movies & tv shows (mplayer)
ebooks (PDF viewer)
read comics (cbrPager)
play gba & gbc games
play Ur-Quan Masters (star control 2)
Use wii controller for games
a torch! (moodlight)
taking photos
text messaging
and last but not least - even as a phone!

OK - I admit the phone "app" lacks a few features but speaking to people while mobile - it works very well.

No amount of updating is going to help you.

Six months after the N900 comes out I have to buy a brand new device to have the latest os?

I'm sorry Nokia but this will NOT happen. Are you people ******ed?

Bye bye Nokia.

nokia could release it for the n900 and ill pay for it. not a problem.

the N910 will be very appealing as it would support multitouch and other features. what are they worried about?????? no1 in Australia even has the n900 except very a very small group of people. not sold here. i doubt it would impact their sales if they release MeeGo for the n900 as the n910 is a more appealing device anyway and a lot of people will probably sell their n900 for the n910 which would be a better phone. who knows i might get the n910 if its any good with a multitouch resistive screen, oo nice.

this is all about looking after us. apple still support the first gen iphone with the latest OS. Microsoft sell OS upgrades but nokia is still lagging behind. this would probably create more business for nokia if they upgraded their OS for older phones for free or for a fee.

think about it. if they don't release it for the n900 even though most apps will run on QT it will just put people off the way we get shelved by nokia. If nokia do deiced to change the way they do things it would be good business move overall, it would create immense loyalty and support towards nokia.

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=44926

look at the poll on my thread. 25% of people said "If there is No support for MeeGo on the N900 ill never want to own a nokia again"

this is not because we cant run the same apps as the N910 running MeeGo will have but its the fact that nokia continually shelves their phones and drops support. the only reason why i stay with nokia is because they are innovative and create high quality high end phones (not since the N95). one day another vendor will take over and nokia will suffer. trust me the day will come, the market is changing so fast. look at what the iphone did out of nowhere. nokia keep changing and changing and never perfect an OS, Device or market them properly. look at the iphones apps store, you have to admit its impressive with the amount of variety. this is all because they played it smart and unified everything.

im not saying the iphone is better. but the general public, like joe down the road get put off by nokia. there is not much support. nokia need to unify everything to get customer confidence to buy the device. its all marketing. we know the nokia n900 is an amazing machine but the average joe doesn't, they still see the iphone as a better device. imagine me trying to explain to a 14 year old girl who owns a iphone what QT is?



even if the n900 runs the latest MeeGo OS from now and to the future i will still want to upgrade my device. maybe i want a thinner phone? or multitouch? see what i mean. everyone is supported and everyone is happy no complaining. Love for nokia will grow and hate for apple will grow from their shitty closed OS lol. Nokia could do some damage, they have a full open universe what are they doing, the average joe doesn't even know or understand how huge this is. maemo is even more open then andriod. nokia show the word the potential of what can be done!!!!!!!!!


the funny thing is, my dumb iphone user friends tried to convince me the iphone is better. they done understand what multitasking, opensource arrararararraraa is. see these are the kinds of people who buy phones. not many knowledgeable people out there, but those simple people make companys like Apple super powers and in turn creates a whole new universe IE: heaps of bluddy apps on cydia and the app store

Exactly! Enjoy the device and OS you have in your hands right now, file bugs for the parts you find disappointing (after checking for duplicates) and stop worrying about future versions.