Mabolosoft sells seedless fruit
Allow me to use some metaphors to explain how open source software is different than commercial software.
Mabolosoft is a company that sells seedless fruit. They have orchards full of fruit trees that they have genetically-altered to be sterile, so that no seeds will be included with the fruit. Consumers want fruit, so they buy it from Mabolosoft. This fruit is seedless, so when people need more fruit they must go back to Mabolosoft.
Sometimes the Mabolosoft fruit can be affected by bugs, so Mabolosoft sells an anti-bug spray that can additionally be purchased to protect your fruit. Lastly, when the fruit gets old and starts to rot, it can no longer be eaten. Once again, the consumer must purchase the newest harvest of fruit from Mabolosoft.
Now, there also exists an loosely structured coop of fruit farmers who call themselves Open Seeds. This organization gives away their extra fruit, after having already fed themselves with the harvest. This fruit is quite different than the fruit sold by Mabolosoft, because the Open Seeds fruit actually contains the seeds that are used to grow new fruit trees. This allows the consumers to grow their own fruit trees, if they so desired.
Consumers are known to have a variety of different tastes. Some consumers prefer a very sweet fruit, while others prefer a more subtle sweetness. Almost any variety of fruit can be created by the consumers or the farmers, since they can use the seeds to genetically engineer the fruit they desire. It is true that even fruit created by Open Seeds can occasionally be affected by bugs. However, this is less likely because the farmers have genetically engineered the fruit to be resistant to most types of bugs.
There are some businesses who use a lot of fruit in their business. In order to provide the highest quality fruit-based product, they pay for Open Seeds to help process the fruit, since the Open Seeds farmers know how to handle their fruit the best.
The majority of consumers will not grow their own fruit trees, instead they will simply use the free fruit provided by Open Seeds. When a consumer's fruit starts to get old and rot, they simply need to pickup the newest harvest of fruit from Open Seeds. If the Open Seeds organization was ever disbanded, the consumers could still feed themselves by using the fruit seeds to grow new fruit trees.
Now, you must wonder why people still purchase fruit from Mabolosoft, instead of using the free fruit provided by Open Seeds. Some think this is because consumers like to see the sticker of Mabolosoft's logo on the fruit. Perhaps some people use Mabolosoft fruit because they have never tried Open Seeds fruit, or because they tried an Open Seeds fruit four harvests ago that had a bitter taste.
Let me tell you, this year's harvest of Open Seeds fruit is sweeter and juicier than ever before.
If the previous story did not make sense to you, try replacing these words:
fruit = software
seeds = source-code
harvest = version
Note: I had to edit this post to change the name of the "fictional" company I created, which turned out to be an actual company. Hopefully, Mobolosoft is not an actual company. At the moment, the Internet doesn't seem to think it is. (Learn more about Mobolo fruit)
Note to self: Always Google so-called "fictional" companies before blogging about them.
Mabolosoft is a company that sells seedless fruit. They have orchards full of fruit trees that they have genetically-altered to be sterile, so that no seeds will be included with the fruit. Consumers want fruit, so they buy it from Mabolosoft. This fruit is seedless, so when people need more fruit they must go back to Mabolosoft.
Sometimes the Mabolosoft fruit can be affected by bugs, so Mabolosoft sells an anti-bug spray that can additionally be purchased to protect your fruit. Lastly, when the fruit gets old and starts to rot, it can no longer be eaten. Once again, the consumer must purchase the newest harvest of fruit from Mabolosoft.
Now, there also exists an loosely structured coop of fruit farmers who call themselves Open Seeds. This organization gives away their extra fruit, after having already fed themselves with the harvest. This fruit is quite different than the fruit sold by Mabolosoft, because the Open Seeds fruit actually contains the seeds that are used to grow new fruit trees. This allows the consumers to grow their own fruit trees, if they so desired.
Consumers are known to have a variety of different tastes. Some consumers prefer a very sweet fruit, while others prefer a more subtle sweetness. Almost any variety of fruit can be created by the consumers or the farmers, since they can use the seeds to genetically engineer the fruit they desire. It is true that even fruit created by Open Seeds can occasionally be affected by bugs. However, this is less likely because the farmers have genetically engineered the fruit to be resistant to most types of bugs.
There are some businesses who use a lot of fruit in their business. In order to provide the highest quality fruit-based product, they pay for Open Seeds to help process the fruit, since the Open Seeds farmers know how to handle their fruit the best.
The majority of consumers will not grow their own fruit trees, instead they will simply use the free fruit provided by Open Seeds. When a consumer's fruit starts to get old and rot, they simply need to pickup the newest harvest of fruit from Open Seeds. If the Open Seeds organization was ever disbanded, the consumers could still feed themselves by using the fruit seeds to grow new fruit trees.
Now, you must wonder why people still purchase fruit from Mabolosoft, instead of using the free fruit provided by Open Seeds. Some think this is because consumers like to see the sticker of Mabolosoft's logo on the fruit. Perhaps some people use Mabolosoft fruit because they have never tried Open Seeds fruit, or because they tried an Open Seeds fruit four harvests ago that had a bitter taste.
Let me tell you, this year's harvest of Open Seeds fruit is sweeter and juicier than ever before.
If the previous story did not make sense to you, try replacing these words:
fruit = software
seeds = source-code
harvest = version
Note: I had to edit this post to change the name of the "fictional" company I created, which turned out to be an actual company. Hopefully, Mobolosoft is not an actual company. At the moment, the Internet doesn't seem to think it is. (Learn more about Mobolo fruit)
Note to self: Always Google so-called "fictional" companies before blogging about them.
I know when I am making a complex dish that a lot of people will be eatting the consitency of the Marbolo fruit. Most people have tasted the marbolo fruit and know exact what to expect. With the rampant inbreeding of the OpenSeed fruit you never know the quality of the fruit. Grant some openseed fruit is delicious. I like to have a nice LAMP smoothie in the morning but I think I am allergic to some of the other fruit.
ReplyDeleteBut I like seedless grapes... ;)
ReplyDeleteOpenSee is not less consistent. A cook (whether her name is Mandiva or Ubuntu or anything else) gets to choose and mix and flavor foods of different sources. Her choice and cooking ensures consistency. With MarboloSoft, you have to worry about maliciously added addictive substances. Once the entire society gets hooked, they can make crazily unreasonable demands such as preloading every bowl being sold with their product:
ReplyDeletehttp://people.ofset.org/~ckhung/a/c062.en.php