Free Software as in Free House

Much like a Tesla, all analogies break down eventually.

As many many many people have said - free software is free, in much the same way as a free puppy is free.

I prefer to think of it as being free just like being given a free house is free.

Imagine that! Being given a free house would solve so many immediate problems. You'd have shelter, warmth, an administrative address, and a stake in the local community. All for free! Brilliant!

Of course, your furniture isn't going to quite fit. So let's knock down that wall. Pretty sure it isn't load bearing. Those creaking noises add character.

And, ugh! This wallpaper. Let's steam that off and give everything a nice coat of paint. Lovely. OK, we didn't have time to paint everything, so some walls are a different colour from others in the same room. We'll get used to it.

For some reason, the toilet is inside the shower. I'm sure that made sense for the old owner, but not for us. Let's re-do the bathroom. In doing so, we find that all the plumbing is a bit rotten. Can we live with that? Nah, let's unblock what we can, replace some of it, and do the rest when we have time. For some reason hot water now comes out of the stove. We'll put a sign up warning people.

Everyone has smart lights - we should too! But, it turns out that our wiring used the old standard. And we can't find anyone willing to work on it. How hard can rewiring a house be? Sure, we got a few shocks, and the whole house buzzes with static, and the new bulbs burn out quite frequently, but we added smart-tech to this old property!

We asked people in the local community if they could help with any of this - but they were so rude! OK, we weren't offering any money, and we kept asking daft questions, but there was no need to tell us to RTFM.

One prominent member of the community sent us loads of abuse. Apparently they can't be removed because no one else is as good as them at fixing all the broken windows and, besides, a code of conduct would add unnecessary drama.

Anyway, it turns out that the locks on the doors used the default key and we never bothered to change them. Someone broke in and stole all our stuff. And left surveillance cameras in the bedroom.

All analogies break down eventually - and I think I've stretched this one far enough.

Open source is a gift and a burden. If you just want to use something like Firefox as an end consumer, it is great. If you want to use something like WordPress, you're getting closer to free-house territory. Integrating a complex ecosystem of intertwined libraries into your existing systems is full-blown free-house territory.

There are no clear borders here - just a way of thinking about the cost of free.

You can't escape these problems by paying for a house. Even designing and building your own property comes with its own challenges.

You always need to understand the cost of a free gift.