DW is fan-friendly, but it is not a fannish project (http://lists.dwscoalition.org/pipermail/dw-discuss/2008-August/000530.html). Also, the developers want to pull in enough money so they can make a living (http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/304699.html), not so much that they get rich and sell out to google. The costs are not as high as you think (http://lists.dwscoalition.org/pipermail/dw-discuss/2008-June/000025.html), and they plan to start out with an $80k war chest and control growth by controlling their invite code distribution.

I think there's a very good chance they can make it work, as long as people are willing to adopt the service.