@Specc

For once I have to agree with you.

To compete against an incumbent near monopoly technology and succeed there has to be a disruptive element.

Openness to closed platforms, (source, standards and ecosystem etc) is disruptive and most likely to win in the long term.

for instance, these are winning

Android is more open than the iOS ecosystem
iOS was more flexible than Symbian in many areas
Open Document Format is more open than doc/docx/ooxml
and an example from history Windows for workgroups was more accessible than Netware and we all know which one won.

More of the same traditional staid closed thinking is not disruptive, merely competitive and this is unlikely to unseat the incumbents.

for instance, these are not winning

it is unlikely that Jolla will unseat Android as you say
WP8/appstore will not unseat Apple
iOS will gradually lose to Android

The key here is the more open (source, standards and today also ecosystem) a technology is the better for end users it is and the more disruptive to traditional manufacturer lock ins once it becomes widely accepted and therefore the more likely it is to compete and win.

for Jolla to win it has to completely embrace a fully open stack to be more than an Android wanna be, in the same way WP8 is an Apple wanna be.

Playing catchup is rarely the way to win.

Linux no longer sucks.

Ever since Valve announced formal support for their gaming platform with some seriously impressive results reported even from beta so far.

I realise this may only be posturing though due to Microsoft trying to close their app delivery ecosystem to copy Apple.

Microsoft will of course become mostly irrelevant as soon as they succeed in closing their shop.

Personally my last Windows PC at home remains solely for those rare occasions I play one of Valves games.

Everything else is either Linux or Mac but mostly Linux and has been for nearly a decade.

For me, an end user, Linux is near perfect, it has already won.

I don't suffer OS enforced marketing plugs, adverts or manufacturers artificial restrictions and do not need to become a feature of their revenue stream.

I can't lose with Linux, it is invisible and it just works.

rgds