Nice text.
I think we can say safely that GNU\Linux Open-Source OS's were nothing but a "trend". And no, Android doesnt count. Companies want control, open-source gives the customers too much of that control, to change and manipulate their handsets.

The only way maemo could live on, is if we could find a way to migrate it to another, newer handset. I have no knowledge about how far-fetched this is, but i am hoping that we will be able to do so.
As I look onward, I just dont know what phone will i get next. Is the N9 cool? Definitely, But it also lack grounds for a real withstanding app-store. It has no future, and as an expensive niche device, from a company that had a failure after failure those past few years, i could see it busting. But i guess that's what Elop hopes for, heh.
The rest out there are not very appealing either. iOS and WP7 are out of the question. The new GS2 from Samsung is still not what i am looking for, but it is actually going in a decent direction in terms of BME and specs, so maybe in a year from now when its time to part with my N900 i could tolerate a Googlevice.

However, I still hope\expect for someone to take a shot with MeeGo.
There are quite a few companies out there who will not survive unless they reinvent themselves. I'm talking about companies like LG, SE, Acer, etc.
With Meego, which in a few months will be a free and ready to deploy OS, they could distinguish themselves between those WP7 and Android vendors out there. The new swapping Nokia UI proves that meego can be a real eye-candy, which is very unlike any previous maemo related product. We also know that meego is quite lightweight as the N9 is not a state-of-the-art specs monster, and it seems that the OS works terrific.
I know that those are just my hopes and aspirations but i do think that while Nokia pulling the plug is both hurtful and stupid[my opinion] it could lead to another vendor or two to take charge and produce Meego handset, possibly without too much in-OS competition and with an Intel back.