Just throwing an idea/observation out there:

It's really cool that the N900 supports the heritage UI paradigm of desktop Linux (4-screens and a bunch of widgets). It is a computer, after all, in many ways more than it is a cell-phone/PDA. I liken it to a Leatherman or Swiss Army knife of mobile devices: while not the best at a single function, it's ability to do so many different things makes it great. And because it's so great, it's displaced all other mobile devices I used to carry (media player, camera, PDA, phone).

My challenge has been that I often find myself picking it up to answer a simple question: how many new emails have I got?, what was that alert I just heard? where/when is my next meeting? what song is currently playing? This is where the heritage desktop UI paradigm may not be the best PDA UI (or at least the way it's been implemented on Maemo):

Sure, I can build a desktop with Bookmarks, Contacts, Shortcuts, and Widgets, but their competing sizes and orientations thwart making a good layout (i.e. the width of the Calendar widget equals about 3.75 Shortcuts but 2.5 Contacts). On WinMo and Android this is accomplished via a 'today screen' (I'm using the term generically) and common examples include SenseUI, PointUI, TodayAgenda, TouchFlo3D, Manilla2D, and others.

So my question: Can we create a composite PDA UI for the desktop that:

• Maximizes the display of PDA information on 1 screen
• Presents information in a uniform, easy-to-scan layout
• Includes indicators for # of new messages (vmail, email, SMS, MMS, IM, etc)
• Relies on all built-in PIM apps (unlike GPE Summary)
• Respects the existing Hildon/Theme framework
• Looks cool!

I imagine this could be implemented via some uber-widget pulling data from Dbus into an almost-full-screen layout.

Curious if others have been pondering this, and if there's interest in doing something about it?

also add calendar events to that widget the current widget is rudimentary at best

To the OP: I think you have some fair points, especially about the widget layout being a bit inefficient. If you can narrow down the focus of your ideas a bit, please post them in Brainstorm.
What you were saying about the "at-a-glance" screen reminded me of the tech preview of the Plasma Netbook shell from the KDE Project, which will be released in a couple of weeks. (For a recent video/pictures, Google is Your Friend (I don't have the time to hunt down a recent demo)) Part of the UI uses Plasma widgets (The awesome modular workspace design from the KDE team), constrained to a columned arrangement, termed as a "newspaper" layout. They also have a mobile version of Plasma in the works, and while I don't know if it borrows that concept or not, that might be something to look into when it's ready, as their initial target is the N900.
Another design concept they've been working on is associating widgets with full-fledged apps, much as the calendar widget on Maemo is associated to the Calendar application. It would be nice to see that sort of integration being a bit more pervasive on Maemo, especially for PIM.

Jaem: Thanks for the reply. I've posted my comments in the Brainstorm section.