Many teachers want to know how cool, free, online software services such as (Wetpaint, WordPress, Wikispaces, Netvibes, SlideShare, Clipmarks, whatever) make their money. ‘Contextual advertising’ is normally the answer.
But before we get that leg swung too far over the moral high horse, consider this: the company supplying the Learning Management System (LMS) that your institution uses is also likely to be making a nice quid — except that in this context, many LMS companies are making money explicitly out of education, rather than out of advertising.
Some LMSs, such as Moodle and Sakai, are free and open-source (and we approve of that 
), but others (Black$Board, Web$CT, My$Classes) are asking budget-bedevilled schools, unis, etc., to fork over for what is, in fact, some pretty poor product. Some of these wretched companies have even used money earned from education to sue smaller competitors!
So, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that just because something is supplied by your institution that it automatically holds the moral high ground over the free stuff. There’s more to it than that.
Education is notorious for being slow in its business reponses. We buy a system (e.g., Black$Board or My$Classes) and stick with it foreverrrrr. Same with infrastructure. When was the last time you saw a truly innovative teaching space instead of one with rows of chairs and desks? 
Each year, I hang out for Educause to release its 
I wrote about 
I recently attended a seminar and workshop in Sydney on 
