I came across this story by John Walker, the founder of Autodesk (coinhabitant of Switzerland) – he is talking about overdose of idealism and quest for purity that very often ensnares the open source projects and often leads to their death. I personally think that Open Source is perhaps a good way for developing concepts but for application to real life situations – it has to be properly – for the lack of any other appropriate word coming to my mind – commercialised. Read on:

Once upon a time, a rat and a butterfly found themselves discussing how best to accomplish a project to make the world they shared a better place for both their species.

The rat said, "Whatever it takes".

The butterfly said, "As long as nobody makes any money doing it."

The rat said, "Whatever it takes".

The butterfly replied, "But we mustn’t use any work done by people we disapprove of, or whose motives are suspect, or who ask to be compensated for their work."

The rat said, "Whatever it takes".

The butterfly sniffed, "We’re not going to have to do any marketing, are we?"

The rat said, "Whatever it takes".

The butterfly riposted, "Our work must be perfectly designed, pure in theory and implementation, able to meet the needs of users and prospective users from now until the end of time."

The rat said, "Whatever it takes".

The butterfly fluttered its wings in annoyance and insisted, "We must find the one best way, and persuade the benighted masses who haven’t yet been enlightened to adopt it."

The rat said, "Whatever it takes".

The butterfly alighted on the highest branch of the tree and declaimed, in the closest approximation a butterfly can make to a stentorian voice, "But all of those who don’t do things our way don’t matter–they hardly exist, We’ll do things for our people, and ignore the smelly majority–even though they outnumber us twenty to one, they’ll eventually proclaim our wisdom and glory."

The rat said, "Whatever it takes".

The butterfly twitched its antennae in exasperation at the rat, "Have you no principles? Are you willing to work for hire, patent and copyright your work, sell it for money, hire people to help you, sell it to evil governments and huge malign corporations, conform to international standards adopted by evil . . . ?"

The rat lunged, snapped its jaws, and devoured the butterfly. After swallowing, it licked its lips and muttered, "Whatever it takes".

Then the rat set to work, getting the job done.