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I think open source has helped the ebook market from the perspective of freely available reading software, and more importantly the availability of operating system that is suitable to run on low spec hardware without the added cost of software licensing.
Where the article was in my interpretation having a bit of a go at was more to do with open formats. There are a lot of open formats, and each were essentially created by different people/groups to scratch their own itch. I think open formats are great, they allow anyone to be compatible with any file type with ease (think how difficult it is to be compatible with .DOC format, you are tied with proprietary software at a huge cost). Mobipocket is a closed format, and for books to be published in that format it is my understanding that license fees must be paid adding to the cost of ebooks for the consumer. Open formats remove that added cost.
I look back at the early days of the internet with open formats. TCP/IP, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, SSH, Telnet...the list goes on. Imagine how slow the uptake and expensive the internet would have been if all those formats were closed and licensed.
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