A rumour based on idle speculation by technology bloggers that has already been flatly refuted by RIM's CEO I have no doubt that MS would like to see QT disappear into obscurity, but adding two rumours together doesn't make fact.
One could also speculate that the comments by Siilasmaa are nothing more than an attempt to halt the stock price slide.
[...] MeeGo/Harmattan is as good a Plan B as any. Nokia continues to offer suppport to the N9 and is still actively encouraging development, through the device programs that are running as well as encouraging devs to port their existing QT based apps for symbian across to Meego/Harmattan via the SDK. Even now, Harmattan offers a stable platform base and only lacks the application "ecosystem" (god i hate that word), to compete in a market that thinks it's all about numbers..... It's ironic that the hardware and design of the N9 formed the basis for the Lumia line up and the only good thing most reviewers had to say about the Lumia is it's great hardware and design! Pretty much all of the reviews on the N9, were consistently positive about the OS and the UI and all lamented the "demise" of such a promising OS. 2 Years ago, no-one would have Believed Nokia would adopt WP7 as their preferred high end OS. It's not such a stretch to think that Maemo may yet return, in it's current (or new) iteration as the in house saviour as things turn sour.