That's a very good question. It reminds me of the old Radio Yerevan joke from the Communist times of economic scarcity:

Q: "When will we have it good?"
A: "You already had!"

When Jolla started, I saw them as an alternative mobile phone manufacturer. That is how they presented themselves. That was their chance. It was a good chance. To build a consumer product that the customers would want to buy. Not a new iPhone. Not even a new Android. Too late for that. But Asha, Firefox, Tizen and Ubuntu are all proofs that there is market for alternatives.

Unfortunately, they squandered the chance multiple times. Instead of making the phone pleasant to use by fixing bugs ("dirty spot"), they went off and spent 6 months porting a Qt update that introduced the OOM issues and ultimately killed the best thing there was about the phone - performance. Instead of improving the basic functionality (another "dirty spot"), they spent another twelve months if not more fiddling with the UI. The result is the controversial 2.0 that polarized the community like nothing before.

And every time you tried to point any of that out, you were immediately stamped to the ground by the crowds of JulmaHerras shouting about how negative you are and how Holly Jolla knows best and we should leave them alone.

Well, they did it their way. Now you see the result.

(Regarding opening the OS, I absolutely share your view.)