I've been hoping to see an effort of this kind for some time now, and was happy to attend the press event following the meeting. One point that came out clearly was the need for the public to see and understand the significance of this model of software development, and its prevalence in our lives. No big PR departments to alert the press when new developments come along. Yes, it was clear that much of the press was largely lost in this new world. Little did they know that shrinkwrap is, we were told, but a small percent of the overall software- related business world.
Open source runs a lot of stuff now.
Open source software development spawns new businesses and models 3. There is a social impact yet to be discovered 4. The work is beginning to increase awareness and mindshare. I'm sure you will see more info about this meeting soon on O'Reilly's web site.