But its more nuanced than that. Ubunut (or rather Canonical) is not just an ad-supported service. It has "real" enterprise support customers, it has OEM engineering services, certification services and other things that puts Ubuntu as at least part of the product, if not front and centre. In a multivariate business model like this, the pulls in each direction tend to even out for the betterment of the product as a whole (or pull it apart completely, but with Ubuntu that hasn't happened yet).

I think the simplistic view of Canonicals business model is the problem with the article.

Yes, for OEMs and enterprises enthusiasts are not product. They are testers. For Fedora it's almost official.

When you read The New York Times or WSJ or even Daring Fireball, do you feel like you're the product being sold?

Well, yes - particularly the WSJ, which flaunts its corporate sympathies, and DF, which wears its Apple admiration as a badge of honour.