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Discussion on: Explain Open Source like I'm five

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gaberomualdo profile image
Gabe Romualdo • Edited

You build a house with Legos, and you're really proud of it.

Your friend Johnny comes over for a playdate and he adds another level to the house, and a different color door.

The next day your friend Oscar comes over and he changes the walls of the building to make it look better.

Your friends Sophie and Alex come over to the day after that, and Sophie builds a new, nicer-looking building and connects it to yours. Alex fixes a few stray blocks in Sophie's new building.

A month passes, and so many of your friends have come over and changed the buildings and added buildings of their own. The original small building you were proud of has now become a city!

And that's all because you worked with your friends to build it.

— Gabriel

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eekayonline profile image
Edwin Klesman

Best answer to the OP's question :)

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emmabostian profile image
Emma Bostian ✨

Okay but can we talk about the beauty that is this analogy?

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nagrass profile image
Nathan Grass

When your friend Johnny comes over, he has an exact copy of your house built using his own Legos. Johnny makes some changes to his copy and shows you what he did. You can then add those to your house, allow Johnny to add them or discard them and keep the left over Legos for free.