I was attracted to the Internet Tablet concept because I was disappointed in my smartphone. There was no phone even remotely close to being usable for the tasks the N810 could do, and there was no phones with stats like the N810.

Now there is.

Having started with the N800 when it was first launched (and I had played with the 770 at stores on several occasions before), I think I can be included in this group. Granted, I've taken quite some time off from this community, but my N800 (complete with the camo faceplate) is still in my arsenal, and gets used frequently on trips for VOIP and such.

Hard to forget all the calls for camo themes back in the day, Ricky.

I lusted after the 770, but by the time I could afford to buy one the 800 had just come out. There is a small part of me that will probably resent the deluge of interest when the 900 goes live, but that's preferable to Maemo dying a death. Bring it on, bigtime.

I knew I liked something about the 770, but I could never work out *just* what it was used for. It seemed like a cool 'just to have' toy. Admittedly, for most folks, even the N810 is the same way.

I got myself a Palm PDA in 2004 with the idea of trying to shoehorn it into a mobile computer. Bought a wi-fi card, installed and upgraded browsers, mail clients, mapping programs, etc. etc. Installed development kit on desktop computer. Upgraded battery to try to make it able to stay on wi-fi for more than 20 minutes.

It did a lot of what I wanted to do, but the develop->compile->install part was too cumbersome, and the device became unstable under the strain.

Then the 770 came up. I looked at it, and figured that Linux is what I want (at that time I had also worked with a Zaurus), having been a Linux user since early '92. I also thought that 64MB was a bit short, I would have preferred 128MB. And RS-MMC wasn't the optimal card format, I wanted SD. And, having looked at the Palm Lifedrive with its internal fixed-size spin up/spin down harddrive, I had decided that it would be much better to have an additional, internal SD slot which effectively gives you upgradable, replacable internal storage, while still having a free SD slot for 'normal' usage (in an out with cards from camera and such).

So, to be nice to me, Nokia then produced a device exactly to my specifications, the N800. I ordered it the same day.

I got interested in the N800 not because it was running Maemo but because it was the best Internet enabled device at the time. The fact that it was running on Linux was a fantastic bonus. It has been a trusted pal ever since. I would have loved it if it had come with a phone. I always hated carrying the two together.

I consider the N900 as an evolution in the right direction. It definitely comes with the "wow" factor (Even my wife loved it).

From a development standpoint, the dev tools are cutting-edge and the platform is solid. It is time for Maemo's flood-gates to open up and let the the bigger mobile-developer community in. there should be pride among the veteran community contributors in bringing Maemo to where it is today. From niche to mass.

Nokia wins, so does Linux.