The Linux Foundation has strategically leaked a report showing that the "Linux ecosystem" — distributors, resellers, support specialists, and other hangers-on of the free-to-download operating system — is now worth $25 billion. Ignore the inevitable quibbling over methodology; what this means is that every open-source entrepreneur out there is going to slap that figure on a PowerPoint slide, trot down to Sand Hill Road, and get funding for the latest open-source boondoggle. The sales pitch: "It's the Linux of distributed databases!" Translation: It's just like Linux, except for the $25 billion.