Yes we've certainly seen open source software working well - some choose to pay to have it hosted for them, others are more savvy and host it free for themselves. It can end being a win-win-win.

I remember the beginning days when you could not buy a hard drive without having the pre-paid Windows OS on it. I remember the liberating feeling a while later when we could buy blank drives and format OS/2 Warp onto it. It's always big industry that tries to control their markets.