I'm a relative newcomer to Maemo - The N900 is my first device. I bought it specifically because I appreciated the open source nature of the maemo operating system, and the device it runs upon. I transitioned over after being frustrated with the iPhone lockdown. In doing so, I gave up a lot of the good things about the iPhone, including its considerable wealth of applications, because having a phone that could run Linux, load media onto without iTunes etc... was more important.

I could have gone with an Android handset. Android would have wrested control from Apple as well, and their platform is still somewhat open, and has considerably greater development. But no, I figured that I'd support the "purest" Linux on a GSM phone, one that allowed programming in any language, didn't require a dev kit or license etc..

I bought the N900 expecting to be able to upgrade. It is completely contrary to the "open" nature of the rest of the OS, the rest of the hardware, not to be able to. When I choose Arch Linux, I expect to be able to pacman -Syu and get the latest packages. When I choose Ubuntu, I know that 9.04 can be upgraded to 9.10 and that 10.04 will be in my future as well. Hell, even the iPhone - the Anti Maemo/MeeGo - upgrades its OS even on older hardware. If the install isn't as simple as simply an OTA update, that's fine. I don't mind it being more like installing an OS "from scratch", but churn out firmware and an OS, package it up in a little program for Linux/Windows/Mac, connect via USB, and install the new OS!

If Maemo5 is the terminal point for the N900, then I'm done. I'm done with Nokia. I'm not paying $600 for a "hacker" ready device with an open OS, only to be told "Sorry, time to buy another one". That's the reason I came HERE, to get away from that. I'm not going to be buying the new "N1000" that comes with MeeGo, believing that I'll be able to update. Its not worth throwing my money away. Right now ambiguous language is not helping the situation!

I know this is all up in the air for the time being and hope Nokia makes the right choice in the end.

That Groucho quip was pretty funny when made more than fifty years ago,.

I like how people are defending this device by saying "It's not a phone, it's a computer!" and "Omg, did you think you bought a phone?" and then in the next breath it's "Why would you expect your phone to be upgradeable to the next OS version?". Well, I've upgraded all my other "computers", so why not this one?

I also couldn't help but notice Electrolind's message had a very low signal-to-noise ratio and sounded almost like a PR-department press-release. Nowhere did he actually address the premise of this thread, which is that the N900 will supposedly not be upgradebeable to MeeGo. I don't really get the feeling that Nokia has a lot of experience of openness... or did you just mean the software kind?

Still, thanks for coming forward with something. A little more actual information and people would've been ecstatic!

I don't understand this. Why is it Nokia's choice ? If Nokia is the only one that can answer you, it matters not how open the device is (ever asked Dell to upgrade that Ubuntu 8.04 on the Dell Mini ?). Openness is supposed to guarantee that OTHERS are able to go in there (Mer, anyone ?), not that the original manufacturer will provide further updates (which would be best, but has nothing to do with openness).

Electrolind's message was just copied and pasted without proper quotation from here, it wasn't supposed to address the premise of this thread because it was written almost two weeks ago about a slightly different subject. Discussed in length here.

But N900 is not open. No one but Nokia can write an OS that uses all its features, therefore your analogy fails.

I would much prefer to see complete documentation of the N900 than continuing support. But I know there is no chance for the former, and there is a slim chance for the latter.

kinda stupid to post this but its true that a phone these days has 12 month life span. I got this phone on vodafone uk on a 12 month contract......yes 12 so even with the £45 a month id still say its better than the £500 euros some have spent and its unlocked. last but not least i dnt play games and crap hence y i sold my iphone but maemo is an EXCELLENT os, i love it. meego will be a bonus but who cares.

The N900 (and Maemo 5) is not 100% open, and nobody said it was (you *can* install other OSes without being prevented to do so - drivers and docs are a different issue, I know). It's sad, but that's the way it is. Let's see if that 100% Free promise will be kept with MeeGo.

There IS a chance, that's what the whole distmaster thing is about (considering docs as an aspect of open code, with the presumption there ARE quality docs to get in the first place). But there seems to be no (=minimal) interest in that from the N900 folks on talk. I understand what you're saying, but it is not what the people in this thread are talking about.

See said distmaster recommendation on freeing BME, to understand what chance is there.

Since Nokia did not free stuff from 770 frame, with lame excuses such as "competitive advantage", since It took three years to free libicd_network_dummy, which is not much more than a set of emty functions, it is obvious there is no chance whatsoever, hence no discussion.

On the other hand, I (and apparently some others) believe that with enough pressure Nokia will understand the stupidity of deciding not to get Harmattan to work on N900, and will avoid that decision.

But from their point of view, what's stupid about it? It will cost them money to make Meego work on the N900. It will not sell any new units. And I strongly suspect that this community will not want to pay for the upgrade.

For that matter, what pressure? "Dear Nokia, if you don't put Meego on the N900 I won't buy a new Nokia phone." But if they do put Meego on the N900 you won't buy a new Nokia phone either!

Frankly, your best bet may be that Intel pressures Nokia to get the Meego brand out to a broader set of devices.

But besides that, if you're happy with the N900, why would you want to change to a new, unproven, OS mashup?