According to this thread on Nokia's own forums, Orange plans to make display of their 'love it or hate it' Home screen optional on future branded S60 smartphones. They don't seem to be able to 'fix' existing devices though. Still, at least they've been listening to their customers....
Read on in the full article.
Orange have said in the past that a future version of the homescreen (I forget which one) will have the option to turn it off.
However, what is highly disappointing is the "we can not retrospecitvely fix existing handsets" - meaning that Orange are not prepared to release any official firmware upgrades for the N70 or their other phones.
It IS, however, possible to get your Orange'd N70 or other S60 phone flashed to a generic firmware 😊
Of course while the option will be there to turn it off, it will still be on the phone ROM taking up space. Plus Orange have not said if they will allow there software to carry Nokia's Active screen.