I think I remember reading about that back then.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Wasn't it Icculus doing the dedicated Linux server and being paid for that?
As we know, he sometimes does the Linux client for free, e.g. see Prey and MOHAA.
This is a much appreciated thing.
The downside of course is, he doesn't always support those builts AFAIK.
In these cases clients are provided as is, labeled with a large
beta sticker.
http://icculus.org/betas/ssam/
Maybe he just wasn't paid for porting the SSx client(s).
In that case there is no point to blame him for a lack of bug fixing.
Croteam might do the current Linux port in-house in a more serious attempt
aiming for a Steam release.