“Before the first day of trading for VA Linux had even
ended, free software programmers were already kvetching about
whether the astonishing stock market ascent of the company might
spell eventual doom for their world.”
“Will the huge financial worth of the founders of companies like
Red Hat and VA Linux end up disillusioning small-time developers?
These companies must now keep their shareholders happy — will the
goal of keeping stock prices high interfere with code design
decisions that used to be based on purely pragmatic factors? And
what happens if Red Hat and VA Linux stock goes down in
flames?”