There seems to be a lot of talk about MeeGo lately and admittedly I haven't quite digested all there is to know about it, but what's so great about it?

Now, i've been using Maemo on my N900 since December last year and I've gotten used to its quirks and there are a few features that I initially missed from my N95 (picture messaging, detailed info in call log, decent maps, messaging that works properly etc). However, it offers so much more, so i've pretty much forgotten these things.

Can we get some kind of top level discussion about what sets MeeGo apart from Maemo? Why are people excited when there are barely any screenshots and not a great deal is known about it? Why do people automatically think it will be an improvement over Maemo?

It will be better simply due to much more funding from both Intel and Nokia. Also, they are really keen to make this the next big OS for little devices. The fact that they are investing quite a bit in it assures me that it will be better at the end. Maemo is great and I can only assume they are smart enough to not make meego worse than maemo. Especially considering it will have a open development process where we will also have some say in it.

I think one of the greatest things on peoples' minds with regard to MeeGo is the fear that Maemo5 will no longer be supported.

Maemo5 came out of the oven pretty raw and people would like to see their 500+ dollar device be perfected by Nokia in times to come.

Feature-wise I think MeeGo and Maemo are going to be very similar, with the exception that any new functions new technology will bring will more likely be updated to MeeGo but not Maemo5.

In short, people fear that MeeGo being the replacement of Maemo will mean that they're stuck with something that's old and dated less than a year from its launch.

I expect overall security to be better in Meego if it follows de facto RPM-distribution policy that all packages should be GPG-signed.
This current situation with Maemo and unsigned deb-package installations with wget+dpkg is intolerable, because also developers do it and one targeted MITM-attack can infect the whole community easily now without traces who did it.

I do not know if Meego and OpenSUSE has good SELinux support, but I hope Meego will get it. Fedora nowadays, after couple of years trial and error, has good SELinux-support and it is expected that all Fedora compatible RPM-packages are SELinux-aware.

I'm not sure if I expect MeeGo to be better than Maemo in terms of what itcan do for me etc.

I do expect it to be a more flexible and future-proof platform, though, because it doesn't depend on Nokia like Maemo does and isn't tied to its products. - I expect to have more choices with MeeGo.

The only disappointing part of MeeGo for me is that Nokia's image includes binary-only software (e.g. phone app & battery management).

I was hoping they would open-source the above systems. It means we would be stuck with Nokia's phone application - judging by what Nokia released on the n900.

There is an open-source image but there is a "big fat warning" stating you may damage the battery if you install the image on the n900.
(This image is ideal for installing on a "development" PC)

I agree with benny1967. I am longing for a MeeGo tablet for instance with a 5" screen, wifi, gps, bt and forward facing camera. And of course, without any cellular capability. I really do not care if it comes from Nokia (unlikely), LG, Samsung, or SmartQ. MeeGo will bring choice to this 'platform' that could never be possible under Maemo.

Because i think Harmattan/MeeGo will still probally carry heavy resembles to Maemo 5 UI(that i like very much) and the application framework is Qt.
Anybody who have tested Qt4.6 widget gallery knows how smooth this device could be with Qt and we have already seen it with the today released moblin/MeeGo videos. Plus more future proof and better support for portrait.

Can't wait.

Is the MeeGo Nokia GUI being developed "behind closed doors?".

If that is the case then so far it's not very open.

I'm extremely grateful for the non-gui release they did a couple of weeks ago.

Its like someone cooking you the perfect steak and then saying "You can smell it, you can touch it but you cannot eat it until I tell you!".

what you've seen in the videos is moblin rebranded as MeeGo 1. which was already built behind closed doors.
you will see harmattan/maemo 6 released soon rebranded Meego 1 too.
then all the confusion starts b/c we'll have 2 MeeGo's with same release number while a 3rd is in open development
neither are real MeeGo that wont truly come until 1.1