Ah c'mon. Hindsight is 20/20.

Those who say anything along the lines of 'it was perfectly clear since the n900 was released that....' has obviously fallen into that pitfall.

At any given time you are considering many different possibilities all at the same time; and whichever of those turns out to be the case, then you will feel that you've already thought of that possibility; even though you may may be far from certainty at the time.

I still remember the euphoria of n900 when it was being released and the anticipation of garnering good press reviews, 3rd parties support, ovi store, etc.

The MeeGo announcement (and what followed) hit the community like a ton of brick.
Let's not stay in denial.