“Astonishment was the prevailing mood among hackers after Wall
Street was stormed on December 9th by VA Linux.”
“Not surprisingly, the idealistic hackers who helped create
the Linux phenomenon have mixed feelings about this sudden
wealth.”
“Most hackers would actually welcome a less febrile atmosphere.
They fear that the sudden Linux riches threaten their way of doing
things. ‘Will Open Source’s own success destroy the grass-roots
effort that forms its foundation?’ asked one of them in
Slashdot.org, arguing that some programmers could, for example,
resent others who make large amounts of money with their work and
stop contributing to Linux.”