---
title: Newspapers not Cars - thank you mr phipps
date: 2004-08-26T20:28:03Z
modified: 2004-08-26T20:28:03Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/newspapers-not-cars-thank-you-mr-phipps/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 29
categories:
  - Uncategorized
timestamp: 2004-08-26T20:28:03Z
tags:
  - Uncategorized
---

I realized with a start when reading a really interesting blog by [Simon Phipps on Sun’s approach to open source](http://www.webmink.net/minkblog.htm) that someone has put forward an entirely new way of thinking about technology packaging and commoditization. A way that doesn’t involve automotive industry analogies.

I am always interested in narratives that help us understand the world, and WebMink does that with his newspaper analogy for technology packaging and delivery. What does subscription really mean? Vendors [are all component packagers today, whether they realise it or not, admit it to themselves or not](http://www.redmonk.com/jgovernor/archives/000045.html).

It’s nice to know there’s life and thinking outside Detroit… and Sun has always been great at generating interesting editorial…