Canonical exclusively seems to make money from Support, so releasing anything open source that aids external support disadvantages Canonical.
Instead, I'd rather see a donation/profit target set on such programs, and once donations/purchases on this target are met, they are open sourced. Everyone wins then.
Another possibility is to only release open source products, but start accepting donations (go Not for profit maybe)
* People are more likely to pay for a product which will be open sourced. So more money
* You can open up votes on what you'd like to develop next commercially
* Companies have a greater guarentee their product will be supported in the future.
* Most people here would agree its a bit odd to have an open source company, whose uniquely programmed products are entirely closed source. (Smells a bit like Apple's actually).
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