What Good are Mashups Anyway?

Interesting piece on the nature of mashups. Oddly I have seen less about the idea of late, but think its a good concept. " ... A new breed of Web-based data integration applications is laying its foundation across the Internet. Collectively called mashups, their popularity stems from the emphasis on interactive user participation and the manner in which they aggregate and stitch together third-party data. Very much a product of the Web 2.0 movement, the “foundation” metaphor is a reasonable one; a mashup is characterized by the way in which it draws content and functionality from disconnected data sources outside its own boundaries ... "