Would *I* do something like that??? *bats eyelashes*

hey, is this where i sign up for the dick-size contest?

i hope girth counts, i'm hung like a hockey puck...

Another reason why $50 sounds like a more than fair price, and another reason why any potential buyers of that unit should be warned. Someone should post this thread on his 'for sale' thread.

mer........

The # of Ubuntu deriviates in alternatives is confusing lol.

I think there's at least 3 different Ubuntu related projects I see on there lol.

The sentence I've quoted above appears to be an offhand comment at the end of a post that makes some good points. But I think there is something very significant hiding in that final sentence.

This is an enthusiast's board. Internet Tablet Talk (as it is still known, for the moment) was started by an enthusiast. Those who post regularly are enthusiasts. It reflects the interests of enthusiasts.

Mere users are mostly tolerated, as long as they behave themselves, but it's not a forum by, for, or about users. It's by, for, and about enthusiasts. How could it be otherwise? Enthusiasts are the people who experiment, who find out answers, who develop programs. Without enthusiasts, there would be very little information on display here.

I think it's also true that the tablets are not devices for users, although they are great for enthusiasts. Anyone who thinks he has purchased a tool that he can remove from the box and begin using immediately is going to be disappointed. And if he's not prepared to take on a new hobby in order to customize the device to his liking, he's going to be very frustrated with the process. Someone who is willing to put in a substantial amount of time and effort is much more likely to be happy with the device. But I don't see anything that makes clear just how much time and effort is required, for instance at nokiausa.com, where the N810 is listed as a phone.

I have no clue about the original poster. Maybe he was just a troll whose only goal was to stir up trouble. But I have no doubt it's possible for someone to reach the level of hysteria he expressed through the sheer frustration of trying get the IT to perform what would seem to be simple tasks.

But even if he was as genuine as he was misguided, who cares? Good riddance, right? After all, he's just a user. He wasn't going to contribute anything useful.

But I can't help thinking that ultimately, the enthusiasts need the users just as much as we need you. Without a solid user base, you will have nothing to be enthusiastic about.

By the way, it might be worth considering the full definition of "enthusiast" from the 1913 Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary, which should be in public domain and quotable:

"One moved or actuated by enthusiasm; as: (a) One who imagines himself divinely inspired, or possessed of some special revelation; a religious madman; a fanatic. (b) One whose mind is wholly possessed and heated by what engages it; one who is influenced by a peculiar fervor of mind; an ardent and imaginative person."

I think we can find vivid examples of all of the above within this thread.

Speaking for myself, I was satisfied with my N800 as it came out of the box two+ years ago, and I've only been made happier by what's come since. I bought my tablet for web browsing, email, and occasional, light weight, media playing, and it has delivered.

I've never booted off SD. I've never tried an alternate OS. I don't use Easy Debian. (Sorry, qole.) I've installed very little extra software. I've never even tried Maemo Mapper, the quintessential Maemo program. (Sorry, gnuite.) I think I surprised a few people at the Summit when they found out how little I've tweaked my tablet.

My father also has an N800. He bought it to browse the web at coffee shops and elsewhere while tethered to the non-smart phone he deliberately selected. I suspect he's installed no extra software at all, and he's quite happy with his tablet.

I've seen the need to tweak and bend tablets to the owner's will as the more "enthusiast" behavior. I'm just a happy user. Though perhaps one with "low standards".

I use to be a normal user myself. Just using it to browse the web and take notes for several months. But then I started reading, and experimenting. Man was that a journey, so many times I wanted to give up. To go back to what I was happy with before.

Even now, I debate trying Mer and Ubuntu alternatives out.

I remember when I first got my tablet I was amazed by how nice & fast the web browser was (compared to my Palm TX's, not my Quad Core Desktop's, which seems to be what most people compare these things to), and how stable it was (again, compared to my Palm).

I liked how everything "just worked".

You can catch a little bit of my enthusiasm for my N800 with this review I wrote shortly after I bought it.

Since then I started booting off an SD Card, tried 4 different alternate OS's (KDE, Mer, Android, Debian), use Easy-Debian on an everyday basis, installed hundreds of applications, have taken up programming, and still, am very happy with it.

My point? There is no "single use case" that you have to have to be happy with the tablets.

I went from asking bundyo how to install an application to were I am now, and I've been satisfied with my purchase the whole time.

Hey RobbH, that was very well written, but what a bunch of oversimplified BS. I'm not in the mood to dissect your entire post, but so not to be a complete a*shole, I will give one example. And I quote,

Anyone who thinks he has purchased a tool that he can remove from the box and begin using immediately is going to be disappointed.

Wrong a year ago and wrong every day since.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this site, like most any other site, can't be conveniently categorized as just a group of frustrated users and can't-be-bothered enthusiasts.

Reductionist absolutism is a quick way to the bottom. Enjoy it there.