(I'm sorry to mention MeeGo here as it's mentioned all over the place allready, but I got the feeling I could read about it between the lines here...)

I'm not sure it will represent fail as far as open source with a large corp is concerned. Some say it will lead to more openness. Now there's two behemots, not one and a stated plan to have a generalized platform for different devices.

It would be logical to push for open drivers and two behemots can push more than one. Now, I don't trust corporations to sincerely look to anything but the bottom line, so time will tell.

I feel the thread title was a bit misleading, since the fail lies in whatever in the OS is not open source. Maybe some quotes or the prefix semi- would have made it clearer.

If support for the N900 is dropped, let's hope enough is open and that whatever closed bits are good enough so that it can thrive for years to come with community support.