In an interview with ZDNet Asia on Wednesday, Jim Whitehurst said revenue models of open-source proponents, such as Red Hat itself and Google, have brought success to the respective companies and allowed them to contribute back to the open-source community. Google relies on ad-based revenue, while Red Hat's runs on a subscription model.
Whitehurst acknowledged that the bulk of Google's revenues are not generated through open-source software, but noted that success from companies active in open source in is still beneficial to the industry.
For more, read Open source needs successful champions on ZDNet Asia.