Its only a spreadsheet application. I need word and powerpoint

I think that's where the Maemo argument gets crushed. You rather use "desktop grade" applications on a mobile device with a 3.5" display instead of using optimized applications for it. Once again, I will pose the question:

Do you think one could modify a spread sheet quicker and with more ease on an N900 using Gnumeric, "desktop grade" application or on an iPhone using what ever the best spreadsheet application there is?

While it might give you a huge nerd boner, I have used Gnumeric, and I can say with a good amount of certainty that it's not gonna work out in the N900's favor.

In every respect except integration, iOS is now the worst mainstream mobile OS. Even Apple knows it.

Here's my answer:

If "modifying a spread sheet quicker" means only the process of entering data into cells and moving rows and columns around, then yes, the iPhone-optimized app will win.

However, consider that you need to get the spreadsheet data onto the iPhone and back off of it in some manner. (Apple does not make this task simple!) Also, consider that you have to spend time learning the app's user interface (which, obviously, must be different from Gnumeric's UI, or this whole argument is moot). Finally, I would imagine that some conversion will be required between the app's file format and Gnumeric's file format, with all the usual issues of lost formatting wherever the file formats are incompatible.

But really, let me refute the very basis of the question. Regardless of whether or not you prefer to use "desktop grade" software on a cell-phone sized device, the real issue here is that Maemo allows you to do so; iOS does not. You can still run finger-friendly cell-phone-sized apps on Maemo when you want to.

You can, but chances are your going to have to write the applications up yourself. Thats where iPhone excels, tonnes of support means your likely to find something that you require.

Even moreso on Android because of the lack of restrictions, though some things are truly not optimized for it.

Oh sure, I'll admit that right up front -- none of the Nokia NIT line have been popular enough to draw the kind of support that iOS and Android enjoy. So yeah, "app" support is thin on the ground.

But still -- my N900 is a tiny portable computer. It runs much of the software that I use daily on my desktop machines. My iPhone, on the other hand, is just a cell phone that runs apps. It runs none of the software I run on my desktop machines, and even if I hacked it, I doubt I could get most of it to run. So at least for me, switching from Maemo to iOS or Android would involve a fairly significant reduction in functionality...

I am not going to disagree, it has had the same UI since the first iPhone! It is horrible! But it just so happens that when it comes to mobile applications, social media, sharing of data, blah blah blah - integration is 99%.

And as another poster mentioned, "there's going to be an application for the iPhone out there that is going to do exactly what you need to do"

Personally I am a big gun guy. I live in the USA and I am big into firearms, everyone knows that a rifle should always be your first choice and your pistol is a sidearm. Many gun manufactures have tried to put rifle calibers into compact firearms and it has always been met with failure.

My desktop is my command center
My laptop is my tank
My UMPC is my rifle
My mobile device is my sidearm

Well... probably not.

But I think you didn't phrase the question correctly.

The question I ask myself is, in my belief (and for my use), more appropriate:

Would an iOS or Android app give me ALL the functions and versatility of a full desktop app? Nope, not even close... And this is the real argument with desktop apps on Maemo...

At the end of the day, the full desktop experience just can't be beat.

Moore's law doesn't yet apply to firearms (thankfully so...)

That's where I think I have a big disagreement with the Maemo community, allow me to boot up my N900 real quick...

GIMP
Hexen 2
Duke Nukem 3D
Open Arena/Quake 3
Quake 2
PrBoom (Doom)
Stargus
Wargus
Wolfenstine 3D
MyPaint
OpenOffice

This is just a short list of Maemo 5 "desktop grade" applications I have installed. Most of all the "desktop grade" games are nearly unplayable, to take GiMP, OpenOffice, or Iceweasel seriously is difficult, MyPaint navigation is very hard, etc.

These "desktop grade" applications are just that, "desktop grade" - not meant for a 3.5" display on a 1.15GHz device with so little RAM. They are just not practical for use on this device, especially on the go.

Where as the "mobile applications" on the N900 such as the ported WebOS games are good to play (even though some of them require multitouch) and Angry Birds, ZenBound, Ansel-A, Firefox, Opera, social media plugins, etc. are MUCH MORE USEFUL. Simple because they are not "desktop grade" application, these applications were BUILT for small devices, that aren't that fast, that don't have a mouse, that have a 3.5" screen, etc. hence these applications are much more functional/practical than "desktop grade" applications.

Yes I know, it doesn't give anyone a huge nerd boner - but there is no debate that applications built for mobile platforms work better on mobile platforms than applications that were not.

So you get the "full desktop experience" with 1/10th the speed, 1/4 the resolution, messy I/O coding, and a keyboard that can't seriously compare to a full keyboard.

I was having a discussion with my friends wife yesterday and she said, "Remember Palms?" and I said "Palm PCs?" and she said, "Yes." I said, "What about them?" she responded, "I remember having one for work, and showing it off, you could play games, store your address book, do all these things I thought were so fancy, but they were so incredibly useless compared to technology now, like the iPhone."

So yes, theoretically I could play the entire DOOM game from start to finish on my N900 (and on my iPhone) but it would not be enjoyable, it would be a chore. Simply due to the form factor.