Linux is not just politics or some abstract theoretical preference. It's also the time on the standby screen that I manged to get on the N900, it's sound on both internal and external speakers, it's a multitude of great desktop applications that I find more useful than their mobile counterparts.
I like certain features on my phone, and no phone has them all. Openness of linux gives the possibility for me to make some of the features I want available on my phone. It allows me to use the PR1.1 font on PR1.2 and not let nokia decide what is the best font size for me. It also allows me to code an app for my phone in my choice of programming language between 6 or more languages. Apple users defence that they have siri makes little sense to me but that does not make every siri user a fanboy. If they say that it's better not to be able to send files via bluetooth I'll consider it fanboyish, but if they say they feel more secure that not every app has access to all other app data on the phone I'll consider that a most valid point. In fact I would be a bit scared to install untrusted apps from the store on the N9 if it was the mass market device it was intended to be.