My friends Biella and Mako have written a good, short academic paper on how it is that “Free and Open Source Software” can be seen as tactically advantageous to big corporations, Starbucks-smashing anti-globalists, and liberal commons-oriented IP wonks.
While the money behind IBM’s advertising machine makes their take on FOSS particularly visible, they hold no monopoly on the interpretation of FOSS’s meaning and importance. This is evidenced by the extensive use of FOSS as an iconic tactic by leftist activists around the world. Also bearing a three letter acronym, the Independent Media Centers (IMC) are a socio-political project whose mission and spirit are completely contrary to the goals of a large corporation like IBM.
(Thanks, Biella!)