Correct. I'm not so anal as to feel I have to avoid shorthand like "open source phone" for "phone with open source operating system" in a thread where everyone should know what is meant already.

I mean Open Source as defined, without being anal about it, by the Open Source Initiative, not as in "you get some source code" Microsoft style. Again, it should be obvious to everyone here what is mean by open source in the context of Maemo. And that's the same thing in practice as Free Software, even though the philosophy behind them differs.

If pushed on philosophy I'm more aligned with Free Software, but I use the term Open Source because it's more widely familiar and less prone to misinterpretation by those who don't already know better.

You made the mistake of over-interpreting sloppy language.

Are you seriously suggesting I can get a useful Wintel phone?!

An ordinary computer does not enable me to do the things I want to do with Maemo. It is the fact that it's a phone, a phone-sized computer small enough to have on me at all times, and an openly programmable platform, which makes all the difference to my "useful".

Symbian's supposed to be open enough to write your own apps, but you know, I could never install any non-commercial software on the Symbian phones I've had because of DRM lockouts. iPhone is obviously out, and Android is a mixed bag which was just that little bit too closed for me.