What's to fear? The nature of free software is robust to commercial interference (by design), and didn't Red Hat prove that the relationship is generally mutually beneficial? Don't we want free software in the data center?
Sorry, that wasn't clear. I wasn't referring to the incompatibility of free software and commercialism. I was referring to Ubuntu's gradual shift away from their promise of always being free. Specifically, I would point out the recent "branding" updates to Firefox - that basically trick the user into accepting packages that merely promote Ubuntu. There's nothing inherently evil about it - but it was out of style for them, I think. There's also constant additions of packages and kernel modules that aren't REALLY 'free', etc...
So what I really meant is that as Ubuntu gains popularity, I've noticed more and more that they're concerned with things other than providing a truly free OS. Not that I blame them - it's only natural as a company grows. But sometimes it worries me what will eventually become of Ubuntu.
I don't, I think that kind of things are exactly what they should be doing. There are plenty of "100% free" distros like Debian and Fedora; Ubuntu shouldn't mimic them and instead should do whatever is the best for end users.
