"There is no reason why Canonical can't have a strong commitment to Free Software and build a profitable business around Ubuntu to not only help further the development of Ubuntu and Free Software, but to bring it to new and exciting markets, such as laptops, netbooks and more. To do this, our senior management team have invested extensively in business operations across the company, touching every aspect of what we are working on. And this has reaped rewards including deals with Dell, netbooks, custom engineering, ISV and OEM relations.
"Sure, when Canonical started out life it was a heavily engineering based company, but this is no different to every other tech startup. It usually starts out with a bunch of geeks in a garage, except in our case it was a bunch of geeks in Mark's kitchen. When the early incarnation of Ubuntu was ready, Canonical expanded and diversified, adding products, business units, training, administration, HR, and more. This is not any different to any other company. If Mark really had no interest in making money, why would he build Canonical as a business? Why not just register a charity? It just doesn't make sense."
