When thinking like that linux will never get mainstream. Look at windows and mac os, both are trying to do a more glorious gui with every version they release. Why you can guess? Compare to a car, do you want a car that is appealing to look at or do you want a rusty old one(that is working like linux compared to win/mac)?

Sorry for the wall of text. posting from my phone.

Well the idea and the magic around the Ipad is a mystery since it,s more like one of those giant calculators/pens/clips and other "funny" office stuff you can buy for your bosses birthday...

On the otherhand it would have been a killer product that I would pre-ordered like yesterday if it have had pen/stylus support, drag n drop filesystem and multitasking. (and Maemo)
I would love a big portable notepad and to show off photos for my clients without the need of a laptop all the time.

I'm a pretty firm beliver in the "anythingbutapple" community and really worked hard to understand how so many people can be willing to spend so much cash as they do for inferior hardware and software limitations compared to what it cost and we are used to in the PC world ie.

Linux big problem pops up as soon as you leave the computers
and venture onto and into other hardware, take the N900 for example, we are at the mercy of Nokia's good will to produce a machine to put the magic code in use.

Can't see that many awesome killer machines designed and produced by this fabolous community that work so hard to bring out the good stuff
I wish though...

The problem arises everytime we want a machine (most of the time that we can play with) that we can't be picky about looks.
So we end up with something that got a design that dates back to in best case, early Si-Fi and we tend to see beyond the surface in a way regular consumers do not.

Hell even the N900 is kind of lame and pretty average when it comes to the design especially from a company as big as Nokia.

"It's uuum... Like a sleek coffin design, chubby like to o.g N97 and did i mention it come's in various flavors of black?"

Don't get me wrong, I love my N900 just as much as my pre-production N900 but it IS boring to look at (atleast all the girls at work and my wife think so)

Nokia could atleast push out cool kits for it like nice screen protectors, silicon sleeves etc.
That would atleast be less mindnumbing then their regular stuff for their phones.
Ofc I personally envy any random apple store and all the stuff they sell to pimp all their gear.

Imagine if Nokia released a new Tablet roughly half the size or same as of the ipad with maemo on it in a more costly costume (sexy, expensive looking) aimed at the same crowd but with a multitude of more features to please us tech geeks? MAGIC!

Pretty solid chance it would sell quite well

Plastic isn't always fantastic when it comes to screens, except if you plan to go rough on it, apple doesn't sell features, they sell design and a tightly controlled enviroment inside it that even monkeys understand how to use.

Linux/Maemo is working on it but for total novices it's alot to grasp within the do-it-yourself way Linux works even though it's superior to all other portable OS.

Who knows? Nokia mentioned a new maemo device 2010...


*edit pretty tired at the time of posting, so some of the content might sound a little random
Sorry for that.

Mr Zemlin seems to think that the competitive advantage of Linux is price. While I would expect some random misinformed journalist only seeing the free-beer argument it's kinda sad to hear it from the Executive Director of the Linux Foundation :-(

IMHO, if you design a system that even monkeys can use, only the monkeys will use it. That is not to say that I don't agree with most of your points.

The true engineering achievement will be in reconciling the "magic" and the "power". The common assumption is that both are not compatible, which is plain out wrong.

One point of interest is that often developers dismiss UI's, just because they are "pretty", when in fact a UI does more than that.

A true, well designed UI, is helpful to the user, making its use of the software easier, more productive; and even pleasant, depending on how the eye-candy is managed.

Take a look a this, for example:

http://patifa.wordpress.com/2009/11/...g-the-weather/

I completely agree. That's why I worded it carefully by saying 'the perceived power that's craved by conventional linux users...'.

Unfortunately most zealots are too absorbed in the implementation of concepts that their camps represent and they auto-shun anything else the other camps produce for their own good.

Too proud to analyze, acknowledge and absorp/imitate the other camp's features and advantages to enhance their own.

This is an attitude. You're some sort of monkey until you're some time at school. And may be youre a monkey when youre getting old and your brain suffers. Some people are monkeys their whole life. And most people simple are not interested in computers. All this people need a simple device for surfing the web and reading email and do other computer based stuff. Steves skill is to detect the needs of the masses and kick his engineers harder than others to reach a higher usablility. Engineers (and linuxianer) are bored after they have delivered a proof of concept. The do not kick themselfes to reach the optimal usability as its a hard and boring job.

Just looking at what is being developed in Qt right now makes me confident about the future direction of Maemo's UI. You can't ever be too sexy!

Agree totally about the UI.
As I wrote in my post about monkeys and design, most people love a sleek and intuitive UI and informative notes under each app on the screen , I think I'm atleast a little more advanced then the average user and got the brainpower to remember what icon/widget does what, that's just one of the things people I handed over one of N900's to pointed out.

Many times it's been unclear if they press the internet icon or the Maep app, people want stuff they can understand right away.

Same thing when downloading apps, wiki is your friend to understand what some of em actually does for you

So yes, a slick UI will beat the alternatives 9 out of 10 times for the average user and I think apple proved that fact for the last 3 years on portable devices.

I'm not sure if the Ipad is the device that will make tablets popular among the masscrowd, but if It lays out the way for others and a slick, expensive looking device fueled by Maemo shows up I would be impressed.