But should these things really be run at a loss? When looking at Cannonical I like that it is free and there's no visible ads or any sort of knowing outlay of any sort, but surely most FOSS stuff is purely from the good of peoples hearts.
Life unfortunately runs on money and not good intentions.
10k, really?
Not that I fully understand how your theory works, but 10k isn't going to get you an inch off the ground if you want enterprise class gear.
Unless you don't believe in speed, reliability and redundancy.
I don't make things up :) And we always put 2 in for redundancy!
Here's some CoLo prices, too:
http://www.redstation.com/colocation.html
So, figure at least £1400pcm for a single rack in a single data centre. There's probably loads of extras you'll need too.
But whatever, Pete - we clearly disagree on a number of things such as "industry standard" and "world class".