Nokia should have gone Android? WTF? Nokia should have developed Maemo 5 further and really pushed it as a high-end OS. I've said it time and time again that they should have had it as the high OS until MeeGo was ready, then move to that. This stupid 'yeah in a year there'll be another OS' was ridiculous with the speed at which Android is growing - not necessarily in ability, but just flooding the market. The irony is Maemo 5 is better optimised, far more open and far more customisable than Android - and you don't have to give your personal info to one of the most untrustworthy companies in the tech world.
There are people on Android who hate the N900 - fair enough, it's not for everyone hardware-wise. But if Maemo had been pushed, put on other devices, touchscreen-only, capacitive screen on some etc etc, and pushed it like Google pushes Android, the landscape would be different now.

This isn't a rant on Nokia shouldn't have gone WP7 route (personally i think if the missing features get into WP7 there's no problem with it replacing Symbian), but a response to the Nokia should've gone Android route. Same old story though - make an announcement, delay, delay, change your mind, delay, confuse everyone, cancel plan. Nokia is its own worst enemy by changing plans and not following up with the game changers it has. The momentum of Android in the consumer market shows how many people want what Maemo does so much better.

But on topic of MS/Nokia - because Elder got something right he's now the messiah? It's not in MS's interests to buy Nokia, why go to all that effort of hardware R+D and production and manufacturing when you have largest handset manufacturer doing it all for you? And giving you royalties? And giving you patent portfolio access? No reason to do it at all.