Re: [linux-audio-user] Re: Free Software vs. Open Source: Where do *you* stand?

From: Chris Cannam <cannam@email-addr-hidden-day-breakfast.com>
Date: Tue Feb 21 2006 - 15:37:47 EET

On Monday 20 Feb 2006 23:27, Mike Taht wrote:
> Back from digression. The core analogy that I make regarding free or
> open source software is not the one "would you buy a car with the
> hood nailed shut?", but "Would you buy a house without the plans
> provided by the architect?".

I don't think either of these is very helpful. In both cases, for many
people the answer is "yes, of course I would". Probably these people
are equally happy with proprietary software, so your analogy may still
hold, but that won't get you far as a persuasive bit of rhetoric.
Analogy is often useful to describe, seldom to convince.

(I have tried the car analogy on a few people not familiar with open
source software, and the general response is that the question itself
is perplexing. It would make no sense to sell a car that could not be
serviced at all, while many people would indeed choose to buy a car
that could not be serviced by users "at home". For example, the Audi
A2 is sold with no user-serviceable parts except for fluid topups; it
almost literally has the hood nailed shut. Nice car, I'd buy one.
Meanwhile, I bet most people who own property here in London will never
have seen the original plans for it.)

Chris
Received on Sun Feb 26 20:17:47 2006

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