[SauronOfMordor]

My point was that trying to create a model with Open Source that lights up venture capitalists is pretty hard, because they care so much about competitive advantage, and the very nature of Open Source prevents gaining competitive advantage with it.

There are ways to make money in an Open Source environment. If you create original application (not derivative from an Open Source app) that runs on Linux, you can copyright it and charge what you want and not have it be Open Source. Or, you might have an Open Source app for which you have written proprietary software that customizes it for a particular customer.

[Joe Bonforte]

If you create original application (not derivative from an Open Source app) that runs on Linux, you can copyright it and charge what you want and not have it be Open Source.

So you're saying that the way to make money on an Open Source platform is to get away from Open Source for your own stuff. I completely agree. But then you're not making money from Open Source software, are you? No more than a company selling application software on Windows makes money on Windows.

[Bush2000]

There are ways to make money in an Open Source environment.

Fine, I'll call your bluff. Name a few companies that are selling (profitably) open source software.