Open source software is like a cooking show. Here's the end result, and here's how to make it. You can join in if you like, modify the recipe to suit your needs or just enjoy the show.
Closed source software makes a very different cooking show indeed. That's where the host shows you a dish, says "Isn't this impressive? Don't you wish you could make something like this? Now on to something else." That's not so much a cooking show as a bragging chef, and it's very unhelpful to everyone.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Like all metaphors, it will fall apart if you pick at it too much.
PPS - I rather like it, though.
4 comments:
I like it.
I'd quite like to see the second show though, just to see how it worked.
Well, for one thing they'd find it much harder to fill in the time.
I was thinking about this on the bus this morning.
Isn't a bit more like the host showing you a dish and saying 'Here! Try this! Isn't it fabulous! Isn't it amazing how you can taste the lemon through the cheese? Don't you wish you could make this at home?'
Because the point is that we use the software every day, seeing all the good bits and pieces, but we can't replicate it.
Ah, yes. That's one of the points where the analogy breaks down a bit. Unless you change it to a cooking class rather than a show.
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