@Carl Hancock - Yes, I accept that invitation. Do you remember my famous quote the first time we at there? lol

@Justin Tadlock - Guess I'll have to do what I'm paid to do and research those business models.

The point is that what we really need to focus on is building really cool stuff and finding creative ways to sell it while respecting the license.

Exactly and if I come across any companies or services doing this, I'll be reporting on it :)

@Troy Dean - See, you mention WordPress as if Automattic owns it and it's their product to give away. This is not true. They do not own WordPress and it was free of charge the day it was created, long before WordPress.com or any other service existed.

Service revenue (in part) funds giving WordPress to the world.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say Service revenue (in part) funds the hiring and development costs to contribute back to the WordPress.org project Two very different things.

Feel free to get in touch with me via the contact form on this site and perhaps we can figure something out to get your perspective and questions out to a larger audience.