Ubuntu and Firefox tried. I actually bought a phone with Firefox OS when it was released, it was horrible. I don't know if it was the cheap Chinese built ZTE hardware or the OS itself, or a combination of both. But I could hardly get it to boot, and when it actually did, the screen was flickering to death making it completely unusable. Glad it was so cheap, think I have it lying around somewhere though.
I agree with you however. We must be able to have more control over something that has become so personal.