>Ok - how long can the rest of it last, or will the logic of profit
>maximization take over?
I'd hope that it's already there! <g> Why else would they be in business? And they aren't the only ones packaging distributions. The slackware distribution seems to have some following and there's another from S.u.S.E. coming up quick. And Linus Torvalds (sp?) has been in Silicon Valley lately rumored to be participating in another packaging effort. So it should be a competitive market with the effort all going into enhancements to the system management tools and new releases of sources coming at a fairly fast pace. It'll be interesting to see how they affect the OS consumer market. As to whether it'll prove to be a rewarding investment opportunity...?
Martin