(don't forget Leste along with your mentions..)

and to a great degree I concur...

focusing on os's that currently run or can run on the n900
and focusing on the next advancement in maemo ...Leste...
which has the prospect of functioning on more than just the n900...
THAT will increase community numbers, maintainership, advancements etc...
the more devices Leste can run on means those device owners and predominantly those other device OS end users have the option of running maemo and hence ...join our community...

Some may see my posts on the issue as inflammatory and such talk threatens the viability of the neo900 project.. and so shouldn't be spoken...
I disagree very strongly...

the math is apparent.

pinning our hopes that the neo900 will be the successor to the n900...let alone help to keep the community or forum or OS alive ...
are way past laughable...
It is visibly un-doable ...
there aren't the numbers of devices to be produced to sustain a community or forum...
regardless of the poll ..
regardless of "yes" or "no" numbers...
stalled at ~350 pre order devices ...was the last "known" state of the numbers pried out of the team....where is that number now? ...5 years now and going?
more than double that figure was needed for the cost to begin to be feasible for the initial pre order end user...
according to the same missive...for the project to even be "a go" to begin the "next stage"....
forget even the thought of completion...THAT is leagues away...

both numbers ~350 or ~800 ...aren't advancing any community...any forum ..or any OS ...
or supporting ...or maintaining...
It isn't even a holding pattern with those numbers...
it is community collapse...

Many can continue to think that it is somehow the only way ...or the best way...or another way..

the numbers say different.

If the neo through all adversity gets made...
it is not a successor ...it is a one off..
with numbers insufficient to support any community.
It is just a bunch of guys with very expensive unique devices....

Back to the issue...
If the bulk of the community cannot afford this mad expensive device..
IF it ever gets finished...
Then it is for an elite who can afford it...
meaning that EVEN were it to be a success it would immediately differentiate a wealth class of users here...
Those few who have the ability to throw countless piles of coins at a device...
and the rest who can't.

From the beginning when the estimated costs were mounting...
I was becoming uncomfortable with that inevitable schism...
that kind of class system representing those who have the luxury to afford ...
and the majority who cannot and are excluded ...
I have always been VERY MUCH against.

Linux at it's heart is meant for everyone...accessible to everyone...
Increasingly I see new devices introduced...
Not just the neo....there are others as well...
devices that separate the wealthy from the poor and middle class ..so the poor and middle class cannot afford to run a free operating system...
Yes the cost of an independent startup is expensive ..
and it is not intended evil...in the class separation that it incurs ..
but it ends up being an ugly ugly scenario I wish no part of.

Devices everyone can afford ...running Linux ...
should always be the mandate..
Not class separation...
and those who can afford it ...get it...
and the rest are out of luck.

I think it isn't about keeping silent not to disturb the fragile project ..
I think it is about a lot of money and a lot of hope and a lot of energy that has most definitely been backing the wrong horse...on the wrong race track in the wrong country on the wrong planet.
It is an epic waste of resource, time, effort (by everyone) and funds that could have been put FAR more meaningfully elsewhere.

If I had a time machine ...knowing what I know now...
I would not have literally dumped in a non refundable pile on the neo900 fire...
I would have waited for the Leste project and donated it all to it's furtherance...


Ultimately continuing on this self destructive community course....
If we have no devices inevitably ...to run maemo ON ...
and everyone is looking at the neo as a white knight saving the OS and community....
and giving bare attention to the REAL elephant in the room... the
real necessity of getting maemo onto multiple alternate devices....
for our continued survival and increase of our community numbers...

then this place will soon need to be renamed ...
to ...
"...[Insert Flavor-Of-The-Month-OS/Device-Name-Here] Forum

because it is only a matter of time...

So ...I agree with immi...
to a GREAT degree...