"It's open source, Jim, but not as we know it....
This month's Information Age magazine discusses the state of the open source world in some detail and relates just how far things have come. Open source software, and especially Linux, seems to be everywhere now -- but, as the saying goes, it is definitely not open source as we know it.

While it is still possible to download the kernel code for free, most Linux suppliers now distribute the software with proprietary extensions and support agreements. Red Hat, one of the pioneers of open source computing, now charges $2000 a seat for its server software -- a move that has alienated many of its original open source allies.

Novell's promise this week to indemnify its paying customers against a legal challenge from SCO takes this a step further. Effectively, Novell is bundling in a form of legal insurance as part of the support contract -- a move that, indirectly, will only serve to push up prices still higher.
Some people are now beginning to argue that the cost of ownership of Linux is now higher than the all-proprietary, non-free Microsoft Windows. That may or may not be true -- but at least, with Microsoft, everyone knows where they stand."

Its Open $ource V.S. Micro$oft before you know it.