I read Michael's post about socialism and Sakai commercial affiliates last week but between traveling, returning to Phoenix, and then hitting the road again I didn't have time to say thanks. Thanks Michael, I think you've really captured the essence of what's important about the commercial role in the open source ecosystem.
I found the comments on the post interesting as well. John and Michael both pointed to some interesting related reading:

“What I Learned from the Libertarians”
Michael Tiemann, Board President of the Open Source Initiative
http://opensource.org/node/184

“Why Libertarians Should Celebrate Free Software”
Timothy B. Lee, Cato Institute
http://www.cato.org/tech/tk/070622-tk.html

“Coase’s Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm”
Yochai Benkler
http://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html

I also just downloaded "The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom" from iTunes. It's a free Audiobook released under Creative Commons.