It is notable that most periods of recession are marked by an upsurge in community activity - streets, neighbourhoods and whole regions hit the dole and find support in other people who are in that situation. I think that that has interesting potential now.

We haven't had a real, real recession in the West since before everyone and their dog was using PCs. Given the growing profile of open source software and the increased reliance on, nay, ubiquity of mobile phones in general society, I would imagine that those who are not actually starving will be well into open source. It's free, it is community-based, it allows near-anonimity for most people - it's great!