the problem right now is that maemo (especially 4) is a very small platform target.

if it had the target of say x86 in general, the chance of picking up new people with knowhow to help will greatly increase.

but the handheld devices area have for most of its time been about "complete" devices. That is, when its ships nothing more is done. This have changed in recent years with various smartphone platforms, but they are still much smaller, and much more fragmented, then the PC. Heck, its like watching the micro computers back in the 80s all over again.