Fascinating news, but not at all unexpected by those of us who have been in this game long enough (anyone else remember Opcode and Studio Vision ?). I agree that hopes for an open-source Gigastudio are likely to be disappointed, though I'm all for anyone trying to persuade Tascam that it's a good idea.
It's funny. I find myself in the position of defending the Linux user's right to select closed-source software, while at the same time I recommend avoiding closed-source software for reasons like this one. It may be a hybrid world, but commercial software does have the unique capability of closing its doors forever, even to its own user-base, so I will always recommend the open-source alternative. At the same time I won't go the "whole hog" a la Richard Stallman and deny myself a choice if that choice ends up being able to turn my imaginations into reality. As an artist I can only say that such a move defeats my first purpose, which of course has nothing to do at all with computers and their operating systems.
Happily we have LinuxSampler, so I'm content. Be prepared, folks, there may be something of a rush to get on the LinuxSampler train now.