The question is, What award do you have in mind?

If you (or anyone) is/are suggesting the above post deserves an award for helping educate the community about important issues, I agree with you.

But in no way do I care about an award for pointing out Nokia's "bad habits". Nokia, like any company, has shortcomings. But Nokia is the only company that has been willing to offer the consumer a phone/pocket computer device with official root access! (No need to jailbreak and take all those risks.) Nokia is the only company that backs up their vision of openness by actually delivering a product that embodies the ideals. (Read the link above for full details.)

I feel that it is up to us to shape our future. Stop playing victim. We are not simply victims of Nokia's past mistakes. This is especially true now that Maemo/N900 are out. We have an open platform right now -- some of us have it in our hands. The way we use and support this platform will do a lot of determine Nokia's future direction with it. None of us need to be captive, powerless consumers now that Nokia has taken the initiative to empower us. We can take this opportunity and run with it.

We can do that through our purchase decisions. We can do it in the way we educate others about what to expect from the N900 and how to use it. Those of us who can afford it can donate to the community. (We could donate devices or money or something else.) Many of us can do development work. Others can be evangelists. Some of us can be critics too, but it needs to be constructive criticism. (If you have a problem, state it clearly and state what your desired solution would be. Then ask for help and offer what is needed to get people motivated to provide that help.)

Purchasing an N900 can be a statement about one's sophisticated understanding of personal freedoms in the technology age. Or it can be a much more shallow statement.

If you own (or will soon purchase) an N900, think about what your role will be. Will you be one who doesn't understand the opportunities available to us and who therefore risks letting them slip away? Or will you be one who is an ambassador of open source?