Instead of doing an auction and practically killing what could be a successful classified advertising platform you could do a very important move for the web2.0 history: release it under the *new* FSF GNU Affero GPLv3 license (http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html) – please read about that.

Why? Because this license extends the rights of the “normal” gpl to remote web users, which means that if anyone improves edgeio and makes it available online, they should provide a link to the new source code, thus generating a positive improvement cycle on web applications (just like gplv2 did for desktop applications years ago).

That’s amazing now, because as you might know, successful free softwares are mostly “generic” platforms serving different markets (openoffice, firefox, mysql, pidgin, gimp…), and edgeio has yet no parallel in the free software world (just a matter of time tough).

This combination could lead edgeio to a renaissance in the hands of passionate developers willing to improve the system, and would enable current users to stick with their current system (maybe ask for donations – build a foundation like mozilla does) and prevent advertisers from running away before the auction finishes. Along with this changes, the need to provide support and related services will come (if still your interest or interest of your past employees) or – at least – you’ll just get some free publicity (which will probably worth more than $250,000) and a very good image around the world for your future startups.

I hope the investors think about it seriously…
Best Regards,

Giovani Spagnolo
http://www.webyes.com.br
http://www.tvgio.com