Analogies

[Mike Hicks <hick0088@tc.umn.edu>]

When I think of the current DVD debate, I often try to come up with
analogies that make the situation more understandable to the general
public.  A subject that I often think of when looking at the open source
movement is the neighborhood wrenchhead.  The guy that can (and
sometimes does) take apart a car or engine, fixes it, cleans it out, and
puts it back in great condition.  Suppose he comes across a broken part
-- a funny looking lever, perhaps.  First off, he'd probably scour the
local parts shops for that part.  But what if he doesn't find it?  Would
he just give up on it?  I suppose it depends on the car ;-)  IF he felt
it necessary, he'd probably find a person that could make a suitable
replacement for him.  This seems to me to be the exact situation that
Linux users who want to play DVDs (or use WinModems, funky graphics
cards, etc., etc.) find ourselves in.  There's just one broken part that
needs to be fixed.  That's what DeCSS is there for.

Sorry again (for the billionth time) if I'm wasting bandwidth..  I just
had to get that thought out of my head.
-- 
 _  _  _  _ _  ___    _ _  _  ___ _ _  __   I float like an anchor 
/ \/ \(_)| ' // ._\  / - \(_)/ ./| ' /(__   and sting like a moth. 
\_||_/|_||_|_\\___/  \_-_/|_|\__\|_|_\ __)                             
 [ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088@umn.edu ]