Haven't been following Android as closely lately. But if HTC Sense UI isn't available on non-HTC phones, then you've pretty much proven my point.

If you end up only buying HTC phones because of Sense UI, then HTC becomes the "only game in town" and consumers end up loosing as there are no real competitors. [Yes, I see/understand the desire for HTC to want that]

In the case of MeeGo, (if) the proposition is to create a base operating system that can span multiple devices that gives you great functionality out of the box that hardware and software vendors can easily adapt to their needs. In the grand scheme of things, if it ends up only being a few power players calling all of the shots and keeping the best parts for themselves (ie the "Intel/Nokia experience") then why would any other parties invest their time/effort into MeeGo since they will start off with a huge disadvantage.

So my real point is that if these "vendor customizations/brandings" end up defining what MeeGo is/isn't then (to me) the entire point of MeeGo is (somewhat) lost since it won't be a platform used by multiple hardware vendors, it will just be a platform developed by the major players, but developed in isolation.