Let's be realistic about this. Nokia's VPN implementation choice (IPSec/IKE) and the Nokia Configuration Tool are not designed for normal people to use.
Firstly, the NCT is, as already mentioned, so buggy that it's nigh-impossible to use. It barfs if you have a computer with up-to-date .NET framework installed (as you rightly should have to be sure you have better useability and security for using almost everything in the world that uses .NET framework). This is an almighty stuff-up on Nokia's part and, truthfully, something that you would think might have been noticed a little earlier. NCT is also, for a normal person, impossibly complex to use even if you could (or would want to) down-grade your computer's software to get it working.
(Let us contrast end-user experience here. If you have Symbian^3, you need to download NCT, write your own VPN policy [provided you can get the software to work], download and install the Nokia VPN client to your phone, copy the VPN policy file to your phone and install it. If you have iPhone or Android, VPN client is already installed in your phone and, with a mere 5 steps, you can enter the VPN account details directly through the keypad on your phone. Which makes more sense for a normal person?)
Secondly we have the issue that I mentioned before - that of VPN protocol selection. Nokia have locked into IPSec/IKE and there is no alternative, nor have they given any indication that they would ever consider enabling any alternative. Yes, this is a top-drawer protocol for VPN users, however it overlooks the availability of IPSec/IKE for normal people. Here Nokia have overlooked the segment of the market that will make or break its future - normal people moving into the smartphone space for the first time. It is a Rolls Royce spec in a space where most people are in a Ford market.
(More contrast. iPhone has PPTP. Android typically has PPTP, L2TP and IPSec/PSK. These are standard in the OS - you can add extra if needed)
Thirdly, the previous dismissal by Nokia of normal people's desire to use a more available, or more useable, protocol led to one third-party developer coming up with a VPN client for the "lesser" protocols, reinforcing their position that it's not their (Nokia's) problem. Sadly that third-party developer has recently announced that they have no intention of developing a VPN client for Symbian^3. Realistically, why would they? Nokia have already announced they're abandoning this OS to move to WP7, thus torpedoing their users almost as soon as they've purchased this 'new' device, as developers are reluctant to expend time and money for something with an already-limited future lifetime.
So Symbian^3 users cannot access PPTP, L2TP or even IPSec/PSK protocols for VPN - only IPSec/IKE. For normal people, the fastest-growing segement of the smartphone market, it is almost impossible to access a VPN service that will support IPSec/IKE protocol. There are loads of companies that sell VPN accounts, but very few (I have been able to find one!) support IPSec/IKE as standard. There is no problem with PPTP, L2TP and some can do IPSec/PSK - but not IPSec/IKE, the only option available for Nokia/Symbian^3 customers.
Another contributor here recently bagged PPTP because it is "old tech". That might be true, and it might not have the bells-and-whistles of IPSec/IKE, but isn't something better than nothing? Is it not preferrable to enable normal people to at least have the basic functionality of even a basic VPN (especially in this age of increased - but not always secure - free WiFi hotspots) rather than leaving them with nothing?
Normal people do not always have access to the level of tech that is needed to implement IPSec/IKE, so they're completely ignored by Nokia. Nobody is interested in developing an alternative VPN client because (in their eyes) Symbian^3 is already a dead duck.
As I said before, these are the same normal people that are the future of smartphones, the fast-growing market that Nokia so desperately needs to capture in order to reestablish its market share, but they (we, I) are the normal people that Nokia have managed to overlook either by design or by incompetence - and will turn to Nokia's competitors in future if this kind of indifference continues.
Lastly, when you add this to the still-being-ignored-by-Nokia catastrophe of push email on the N8, is it any wonder so many people are binning their still-new N8s and going elsewhere, regardless of the cost? These forums are littered with posts from normal people (and even power users) begging for help for these fairly basic problems and getting nothing more than "we'll do something about it soon" - a soon which seems to really be a never. Instead of providing a reliable source of answers for problems, the forums are serving more as a shining example of Nokia's indifference to its customers.
Normal people, Nokia. Do you remember us? Might be time you started thinking and caring about us too...
