I love, love, LOVE my new Nokia N900 phone. It is the phone I always wanted. (I was hoping for a Grumpy Editor review, but it seems like Google preempted this by giving him a free Android phone.) It's not prefect, but I figured a lot of issues would be fixed by improved software over time (it really is mostly open source), and the rest would be improved by better hardware in the next version of the phone.
Now it sounds like this was one shining moment of freedom, quickly to fade away. :(
Of course vendors want to own the device. Carriers too. Sadly users have disappeared from the equation. *sign*