Byte.com: A Wireless Neighborhood Freenet (and some commentary on failing Open Source companies)

“This column is really about how some friends and I are
turning left-over Linux boxes plus wireless LAN equipment into
instant neighborhood “freenets.” But first a few observations about
the Open Source ecology in which – or from which – these things
swim.

There is little doubt by now that the Open Source business model
(and with it Linux in large part) is becoming a liability for many
companies. Let’s face it, with VA Linux going into proprietary
technology, Great Bridge (a company built around the GNU Postgres
database) going out of business, and SuSE needing an emergency
capital infusion from IBM to survive, it has become clear that
companies cannot make money (real money) from selling software that
you can download for free from the Internet. Especially not in
today’s moribund high-tech market.

The stock market has come to the same conclusion and it is
heavily discounting stocks of companies with a heavy Open Source
presence, such as the aforementioned ones (although VA Linux is
trying to exit Open Source in order to counter the investor’s
fears). If a company stock trades at below $1 for a some period it
will be de-listed from the NASDAQ (market capitalization is another
of a series of requirements). Companies such as VA Linux are
fighting to stay listed. VA Linux’s stock has been on a downward
spiral for quite some time and is now at around $1 with a market
cap of around $59 million. Red Hat is doing fine, they are still up
around $3 with a market cap over $500 million. Caldera, on the
other hand, is probably going to be delisted shortly. Caldera has
been below $1 for almost two months now, currently at 39 cents with
a market cap of just under $30 million.”

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