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Give it to one of the Open Source mobile distribution developers! For example: Replicant, SHR, Debian:

http://replicant.us/
http://shr-project.org/
https://wiki.debian.org/Mobile

The reason is most distributions base themselves around a GUI and E17 is a window manager not a GUI. But...

http://bodhilinux.com/
http://www.moonos.org/ (DR17 version)
http://opengeu.intilinux.com/
http://shr-project.org/trac
etc...

So SHR and GTA04 might be the future after all ! :)

it's not required, but it helps a lot. It's one the major advantage of opensource over proprietary. being compatible means a lot of code re-use.

Nothing stops code re-use as far as android goes.

That's "nothing besides the utter lock madness that handset manufacturer have thrown in". Or in other words : you're practically stopped on most handsets currently sold.
(Also, I don't know to which extent Google would be open to important architecture changes coming from outside. For most current facilities, they use the in-house developed software. Some 3rd party could start proposing modification to help the whole smartphone microcosm standardize on some common API + set of daemons. I don't easily see Google picking it up as a standard feature. But that's more the parent's rant about Google using non standard components, not mine).

The difficulty in getting root access is a part of the handset manufacturer modifications, the fact that it's not easy to put your own linux kernel on your tivo doesn't affect the linux kernel's conformity to the open source definition.

No, but *TiVo*'s linux-based system doesn't conform to what open-source was invented for, and the GPL has been updated accordingly to fight against this kind of abuses.
And that's what I find very alienating in the current state of affairs with Android : all the locks that the manufacturer are inserting to please the carriers with whom they want exclusively subsidized contracts, are completely violating the initial idea of opensource, and completely prevent users who are motivated to do what they want with a piece of hardware that they have legally bought.

That's a disingenuous comment, im not sure whether you're doing that intentionally or you just have never used the Android SDK.

I have mostly WebOS experience with a PalmPre.
I have a limited experience with an HTC Dream (the first generation Android). Upgrading the system required me to exploit a bug to gain telnet root access, which enabled me to flash a new custom boot loader, which could help me then run new custom system.
- Why can't I directly have a root access when I want ? I need to abuse a bug to start telnet, when webOS phone allow me directly so.
- Why can't I directly flash a new firmware with a proper tool over USB ? I need to gain a root-access which normally I should have if I haven't circumvented the restrictions. Meanwhile on webOS, you can flash easily a default system, and from that point on repartition, replace custom parts, etc. at no point in time does it require circumventing anything.
- Why can't I directly install a newer or better or experimental system (or at least upgrade the existing one) without initial bug exploiting ? The Dream has me exploiting a bug to gain a root shell. On the WebOS, I just click on a new kernel on the package manager I use for 3rd party & homebrew packages (PreWare). getting that to work didn't require any bug exploiting, only installing the package manager (could be done trivially with a nice Java point'n'click interface, and requires no bugs, only typing the proper command on the PalmPre).

The way lots of Androids and all iOS devices are designed, if you want to be able to do everything you want with your phone, you have to rely on some bug to gain an access which the manufacturer didn't intent you to.
The way all the webOS, Maemo/MeeGo, and the unlocked Google edition of the Androids are designed, if you want to do anything with your phone, well you can. The phone aren't designed in a way that prevents you and you don't need to exploit a bug to gain the necessary access rights.
For fuck's sake, I could even completely replace my Pre's WebOS with FreeSmartphone.org's Stable Hybrid Release (one of the linux distributions initially designed for OpenMoko FreeRunners) and at no point there's a step like "for that,

I don't think that's true. They don't preinstall it, but it's relatively trivial to add another repository and install them yourself. Anybody that's not capable of that with a bit of googling is probably not going to be happy with a Linux anything.

I don't have a problem googling on my desktop, but I seriously won't be happy about doing it on a tablet. Googling is not the same without a keyboard and mouse. Sure, it's possible, but not nearly as easy without the proper input devices and screen.

It works well enough on my android phone and it would be easier on a tablet. Personally I would prefer SHR or android on a tablet instead of ubuntu.

The Openmoko community is a breeding ground for mobile Linux distros and and the FSO middleware. FSO and these distros, like SHR, Hackable:1, QtMoko will eventually be ported to other devices. That's one reason why Openmoko is still relevant. The work being done on Freerunners now will eventually result in being able to replace the proprietary parts of the Pre or the n900 with all Free software, or potentially replace the OS on an Android phone with a Linux distro that runs a X.org server.

The people using and developing for the Openmoko phones are very familiar with its faults. They use the phone and develop for it because the Freerunner is the most open handset available. It's a labour of love, and there are a lot of folks in the community that are very committed to Free Software.

If nothing else, Openmoko gave a bunch of nerds a crack at creating their own mobile operating system. It had the potential (and maybe still does through FSO and SHR) to enable the kind of built in the garage innovation that brought about companies like HP and Apple. That's a bit of a long shot, but a lot of great work has come out of the Openmoko community and things are still moving along.