Intellectual property is a thing of the past. To consider this technology with that perspective is to take 10 steps backwards. A better question would be how representative is the sample that constitutes the cloud of various regional or national scales. To reach the most interested potential consumers would be to provide this usage data to companies providing services at these levels. To use such an archaic model in managing this type of technology would be highly ineffective. Business really needs to catch up how they structure their services to keep up with emerging technologies.

What this question fundamentally asks is if there a company that emulates Microsoft and uses a similiar strategy and design within a Linux distribution. Microsoft is the OS that focuses on strong 3rd party and legacy support even if that keeps it from innovating. Imagine a distro that develops unrestricted and innovates. It then goes commercial. It focuses on strong 3rd party support and and is sold like Windows, except without all that legacy baggage. I'm looking foward to Linux in the future.