It's posts like that one ^ that concern me. I hope the right people are getting the message. I still encourage you guys to post these stories to Dr. Jaaksi's blog and/or email the address I posted.

And Hedgie, I hear you loud and clear. I really want this platform to succeed and if Nokia brass does they'll take these statements to heart.

Wow. I was just about to shell out for an N800. Didn't get a 770, really wanted something 8.5x11 (page sized), but finally decided that the N800 was the best price/feature/performance option of me.
Now I'm just concerned. Time to do a lot more research before I pull the trigger.

Schulcher: If it already does what you want it to do, and does it with acceptable performance, then by all means get one. If, like me, you wanted a linux based platform which would grow and become more functional as time went on (as linux tends to do), avoid it like the plague.

Texrat: I hope someone gets the point. I've read Ari's blog and it is what it is. The only way I'm going to be happy is if they set 'er free because cornering the market on Nokia stock and getting onto a steering committee seems unlikely

I just bought a Fujitsu ST4120 off eBay. It's more expensive than a N800, and that's yesterday's tablet.

There's also the issue of different usage patterns: My present-day tablet (an ageing Fujitsu Stylistic 3400) is basically a notetaker and sketchbook, while my N800 is practically always in or near my pocket. I read a lot and the convenience of having 1,000+ ebooks in my pocket, ready to be read on that gorgeous screen, is beyond words.

i am using my N770 (now with OS2007Hackeredition) and i am very happy. It does, what i want - internet and ebooks!
I do not need a linux machine in my pocket. For big thinks i am using my laptop.

For big things I use a desktop. For everything else I use my N800. Priceless.

Figured it wouldn't hurt to chime in on this thread as well. Basically, I'm with Hedge on this. I could certainly afford to buy an N800 to replace my 770 (bought last summer), and I used to recommend the gadget to anyone interested. Since the N800 launch it was obvious which way the support ship would turn though, and right now I wouldn't dream of spending more good money after bad, let alone ruining my own reputation by recommending an IT to anyone.

I upgraded to the hacker edition soon after it was released (thanks, Markku and anyone else who made that possible!), and was relatively satisfied with the solution (again, not that I'd recommend it to anyone else, though). However, it always did suffer from random crashes, and after the last two, the system is so corrupted the web browser won't even start. Yeah, I could flash back. It's more likely I'll just drop the whole thing, though, since this situation just reminds me of everything I'd rather forget.

It's still possible to salvage the mess and win back the early adopters, but not for long, and only two ways to do it: either fully support both devices with the same OS version (that's what operating systems are about -- abstracting hardware differences to a common software base), or FULLY open source it to fulfill the promise with which most of the 770 were sold.

Oh, while I'm a huge fan of an open OS on a tablet, I'm not talking about laptop-like functionality. (Read the crusty old msgs here, I'm a huge opponent of that and used to tell people what they really wanted was a lappy all the time.) In the old days, having a USB key on me was amazing. If someone had some pictures I wanted, a song, anything like that, I could dump it onto the key and slide it into my pocket. I'm looking for something more with a tablet, but still along the same lines. When my cat had a kitten and someone asked what it looked like, I could pull out the 770 and get the usual two comments ('AWWWWE!' and 'Damn, nice screen!') I've watched a tv show or two on the subway going to work, though never listened to music on it really. Tried once, it was just awkward. The games (sodoku, drug wars, mahjongg, solitaire) are great. Web access, while vastly improved over most other offerings, still had quirks (the infamous *poof*). The USB power injector I built was awesome, mounting media cards, connecting my mp3 player for 40GB quick storage, USB keyboards, etc. I never did put a switch on it so it killed my battery after a day, heh.

But that's what I'm talking about. Expandability. Limitless options. Being able to dump pictures from a card reader onto it. Mounting my 40GB mp3 player for some movie watching on a trip. Even things like bluetooth webcams(if they exist) would kick ***. All too limited and buggy right now.

*edit
And I should add, I was always confused by the surveys Nokia put out. "How many cell phones do you own, 1, 2, 3, more". Howabout none. They're the most intrusive invention ever. I can't count the number of times someone yakking loudly about nothing on one around me has almost ended up seeing if their stomach could digest it. People buy new phones every year to be trendy and hip. Latest and greatest. If they just opened up the bloody tablet (instead of this strange pseudo open thing they're doing now) it'd be far more useful and far more prolific. If an open distro (read: full source available minus licensed binary pkgs like Opera)(Yes, binary pkgs = bad, but it's a compromise) was available, I'd totally upgrade to the n800. It's the equivalent of your pentium 3 still being in working order and going to a pentium 4. (My P3 1Ghz was fine when I got my p4 3Ghz 3 yrs ago.)

After the announcement of the 880 and OS 2007, I felt that Nokia pretty much abandoned the 770. I was reassured by some on this board that Nokia would still continue working on the 770 and that the open source community would be able to continue the development. Well, with the official drop of support and the clamor about the 770 being not completely open, I feel my hopes are dashed again. And that, of course, makes me wary of the 880. I, too, am not ready to plunk another $400 for a device that isn't quite ready. I think most of us felt that the 770, while not quite fitting all our needs immediately, could one day do so. Now it seems unlikely...

Another disappointed 770 user who won't be buying an 880,

Vinh

I am another disappointed 770 owner. From a hardware point of view, I think the device is close to perfect and I love it. The story has always been different from the software side. But from the first day on, I put up with it since I was made to believe that we will see the day when all major bugs are worked out.

Now with the official drop of support and closed source parts, there is no hope left. I can certainly afford a 880 and I would buy one just for the Web2.0 support, but after such treatment from Nokia, I don't even consider buying another Nokia product as an option.

I am certainly very disappointed and am making sure people around me know about this situation before they invest in a Nokia product.