How open source markets aren't subject to supply and demand... indeed I'd have thought they were very much subject to it. Ebay, for example... if there are 350 people flogging widgets on Ebay, individual sellers aren't going to get much for their widget because there's a big supply and buyers will only bid on the cheapest auctions.

That aside, there's an interesting lecture by Alvin Toffler here about how the modern economy is asynchronous, ie., we're no longer constrained by time and place, much as you mention above. The lecture is worth a listen.