Never mind, I'll sit in the dark. There actually is an answer, which I can tell you without spoiling the delight. Now a comment for Dan Gillmor who has added to the fast-developing thread about The American Way and software. Dan gave us a couple of excellent metaphors. Yes, this is an interesting point.
Generosity is an American value.
Barn-raising and volunteer fire departments are wonderful concepts, but they do not map onto open source. There's an element of exclusion and segregation to open source that is also very American. And imagine if the volunteer fire departments went on a PR campaign against professional fire departments. And if you cut through the hype you'll see that joining the open source community is just as much a poison pill as becoming a Microsoft or Sun developer. You're captive any way you look at it.