Comments on: Is open source software a deli or a bee hive?

By: Erik Jacobson

Erik Jacobson — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:11:37 +0000

I’m not sure if Blender is quite the right analogy for both service & certification providers – maybe only the former.

For instance, under the Java JCP, a JSR lead will provide & license a TCK, thus enabling certification. This is more like a trusted independent or government body stamping a jar of honey with the honey’s provenance – to ensure that it meets all food standards.

But maybe I’m just stretching the analogy too far…

By: Open Source Development: About Community and Sponsored Projects | Commercial Open Source Software

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:09:32 +0000

[...] Theodor Ts’o opened a conversation about organic vs non organic open source development, following a Mozillaâ€™s organic definition. Matthew Aslett later reopened the discussion further exploring the bee keeper analogy, getting some reactions from Stormy Peters and James Dixon (original author of the Bee Keeper model). [...]

By: James Dixon

James Dixon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:21:54 +0000

To me the software deli analogy seems to lack any notion of a community. It only describes two very different businesses.

Who or what is ‘the deli’ in this analogy? It cannot be a single open source project as each project typically only generates a single ‘ingredient’. Maybe you could consider Sourceforge to be the deli? This analogy does not go very deep.

James Dixon

By: Jack Repenning

Jack Repenning — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:17:18 +0000

The power of the “Software Deli” metaphor may be in its inapplicabilities: I really can’t recall ever visiting a deli and being told “you can’t have Swiss Cheese version 1.0.3 with your Rye Bread 2.7 unless you switch out your Virginia Ham 8.0 for a Processed Ham Loaf 37.3. But then you’ll need mustard 6.8 instead of 6.9, and that doesn’t go with dill pickle 4.0 … how about a nice bag of chips instead?”

But you *know* we dance that dance all the time, with software in general and particularly with open-source software.

Which is where, of course, the “collector” really earns her pay!