Boredom Drives Open-Source Developers?

Henry McClyde writes: Chris Anderson of The Long Tail posted an article yesterday in which he claims that "spare cycles" — or boredom and the tons of people who wish they had something better to do — is what drives Web 2.0.... and the open source development community. While Web 2.0 in general is driven by "the long tail," NeoSmart seems to have taken up issue with Anderson's claims that open source developers (and other freeware programmers in general) do what they do because they're bored and have nothing better to spend their time on. Same with Wikipedia contributors, and bloggers in general.

I feel it's a mix between the two. It may have started off as boredom and ended up as a real passion for helping people out and making a difference. But definitely interesting that Anderson of all people would compare a Linux kernel developer to a bored sheriff watching a DVD or a travel playing Solitaire.