I quite like it too. Jacob's 1 gave me this idea: The Apple refrigerator, or at least the associated supply chain, is built partly on tools developed by the farmer's market. And a lot of the supply chain staff work at the farmer's market or used to work there.
Tom On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 12:38 PM, Mr. Caggiano <[email protected]> wrote: > > Ben, love it! > > 3 things that occur to me from first glance > > 1) Would like to see more emphasis on why "Farmers Market" food is better > than "Chain" food, despite the barriers to accessing it (cost, time, > inconvenience). Farmers Market food has the distinct benefit of being more > transparent (you know where it's grown and how it got to your belly), it has > a smaller ecological footprint, it's healthier, and supports people who truly > care about the product, not just the $$$bottom line$$$. Finally, people > should understand that because this is a grassroots movement, it's not going > to have the immediate benefits as those with highly sophisticated budgets but > with sustained support and critical mass, the annoyance factors will be > greatly reduced and become the norm (hopefully!) > > It would be great to further translate GNU/FOSS/Free Culture principles into > a Farmers Market principle. > > 2) Pedestrian doesn't sound like the right word (ped being foot) but small > thing really > > 3) Needs tightly condensed 1 paragraph version that leads to this longer > version. > > Gonna throw this on my blog if that's okay, I think this has great elevator > pitch potential, thanks for posting! > ~Jacob > > > On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 5:00 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Send Discuss mailing list submissions to >> [email protected] >> >> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit >> http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to >> [email protected] >> >> You can reach the person managing the list at >> [email protected] >> >> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >> than "Re: Contents of Discuss digest..." >> >> >> Today's Topics: >> >> 1. Raising awareness: The Apple refrigerator analogy (Ben Finney) >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> Message: 1 >> Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:13:25 +1000 >> From: Ben Finney <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: [FC-discuss] Raising awareness: The Apple refrigerator >> analogy >> Message-ID: <[email protected]> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 >> >> Howdy all, >> >> In a conversation with a close friend, I had to explain why her Apple >> product would not ?work with? GNU+Linux. >> >> Specifically, she wanted to use our free-software-only GNU+Linux >> workstation at home to put audio and video files on to the Apple device, >> and play them there. >> >> I came up with a quick analogy that had problems. I now have a better >> one, and I would like YOUR feedback on improving it: >> >> Consider if Apple had sold you a new refrigerator. >> >> >> A refrigerator performs the pedestrian function of preserving food and >> making it available when needed, and this refrigerator advertises that >> capability. >> >> The refrigerator you bought from Apple is also beautiful in form: curved >> edges, easy access doors without visible handles, silent hinges. The >> accessible interior is gorgeous also: the shelves invite storage of food >> and even make it look better and simple to work with. >> >> Not only is it beautiful, it also does more: it allows easy manipulation of >> the food in intuitive ways, even allows you to combine them nicely and >> suggesting Apple-recommended dishes to make with these groceries. >> >> Apple has gone to great effort with these refrigerators, to make them >> ?integrated? with large multinational chain supermarkets. You can get your >> food into the fridge without needing to learn much about all the different >> stores; the experience of getting the food there is quick to learn. You >> can, in effect, get groceries into the Apple refrigerator using a single >> interface. >> >> This is a very popular mode of operation: Apple have spent a great deal on >> marketing this new way of getting food into refrigerators and working with >> the food, and most of your friends and family also have gone over to using >> Apple refrigerators. >> >> >> Your new Apple refrigerator does indeed preserve the food you put into it >> from the chain supermarkets, and makes the food ready whenever you want it. >> >> It is so pleasant to work with that you are very impressed, and soon all >> your other ways of working with food seem difficult and make you long for >> working with your Apple refrigerator again. >> >> Everyone soon comes to expect that they can get their food into the >> refrigerator easily everywhere and work with it. After all, the large >> multinational chain supermarkets are everywhere, and everyone uses them. >> >> But there's a problem: That single interface, which works so well with the >> large multinational chain supermarkets, is not available at your local >> farmer's market. >> >> >> You discover this problem some time after buying the expensive Apple >> refrigerator and falling in love with it. The discovery that the local >> farmer's market is somehow different, not providing the easy access to >> Apple-refrigerated food storage, makes you think something must be wrong >> with the farmer's market. Why wouldn't everyone just do food the Apple way, >> which is obviously so much better? >> >> You have a friend who uses the local farmer's market; she is often doing >> things rather differently from everyone else. You think she's a little >> strange for choosing to do so many things in ways that seem difficult and >> awkward, but it's her choice. >> >> You notice she doesn't have an Apple refrigerator, but she does know a lot >> about food storage, so you ask her how to get the farmer's market food to >> work with your Apple refrigerator. >> >> Your friend gets a tired look on her face. (You've noticed this look >> before, when discussing some new kitchen device you bought and problems >> with it that seem obvious to you.) She has obviously encountered this >> issue. Maybe she knows how to fix the farmer's market; after all, that's >> the only part that's not working properly and she knows a lot about the >> farmer's market. >> >> But your friend says something surprising: she thinks there's nothing wrong >> with the farmer's market, and the problem is with Apple somehow. >> >> >> Your friend talks a lot about the market-to-refrigerator interface, and >> about how Apple is trying to control your refrigerator, and about how you >> *could* put farmer's market food in the refrigerator but it would simply >> not preserve that food nor let you cook with it. >> >> This doesn't seem right; your friend is saying a lot of things that seem >> hard to believe. How could a refrigerator work with *everyone else's* food >> (your other friends happily use the multinational chain supermarkets and >> they never talk about food spoiling in their Apple refrigerator), but not >> with the farmer's market? >> >> You insist your friend must be mistaken: the problem is clearly with the >> farmer's market. Can she help you get the Apple refrigerator working with >> the farmer's market or not? >> >> Well, your friend explains, Apple have gone to *special effort* to make >> sure that only Apple-approved interfaces will put the food into the >> refrigerator properly. She tries to explain the reasoning, but this is all >> sounding too much like a conspiracy theory. >> >> >> You start to get impatient. Your friend has been happily using farmer's >> market food for a long time. Even though it seems to be more difficult, the >> produce is less attractive and the groceries you're used to aren't >> available, and it all involves a lot more work. You've seen and tasted a >> lot of the great meals she's produced as a result. >> >> Why is she making this more difficult than it needs to be, you ask? Surely >> if the farmer's market doesn't work with the Apple refrigerator, the >> obvious solution is just to use the same standard Apple interface all the >> multinational chain supermarkets use, and everything will work fine. >> >> Your friend starts talking now about proprietary interfaces, and restricted >> protocols, and other topics she's bored you with before. She says that >> Apple makes the interface, and they refuse to make it for farmer's markets >> or any place that isn't one of the few multinational chain supermarkets. >> >> >> Okay, but you've seen your friend getting around restrictions like that >> before. Can't she use her clever farmer's market skills to get it working? >> >> Your friend repeats that the problem isn't with the farmer's market. She >> now demonstrates by putting some farmer's market food into the refrigerator >> directly: it looks a bit awkward the way she does it, since you're used to >> the Apple refrigerator interface. But it's there; or at least, that's what >> it looks like until you try to use the refrigerator. >> >> Though she shows you the food is there in the refrigerator, she's right: >> the refrigerator acts like the food isn't even there, so it won't work with >> that food. This is obviously no good; that food is inaccessible, making it >> pointless to put the food in there. >> >> Your friend goes further and makes some fairly frightening suggestions, >> about *modifying* your Apple refrigerator and making it behave differently >> from everyone else's! >> >> She also points out that your refrigerator is deliberately restricted, and >> Apple is treating you like a prisoner or a slave by limiting what you can >> do; even though you bought it, you effectively don't own it. >> >> At this point you regret raising the topic at all, and you excuse yourself >> from the discussion, taking your Apple fridge to a chain supermarket where >> you know it will work. >> >> >> So, with this information from your friend, there are a few options: >> >> * You can dismiss your friend's claims as paranoid conspiracy delusion. >> >> Everyone else with an Apple refrigerator encourages you to do this; she >> clearly thinks Apple is some kind of evil mastermind corporation >> controlling the world through refrigerators, which can't be right. >> >> * You can forever keep your Apple refrigerator separate from farmer's >> markets, or any market that isn't one of the multinationals approved by >> Apple. >> >> This, you admit, probably means you'll stop shopping at farmer's markets. >> There are some nice aspects of farmer's markets, but you can come up with >> lots of rationalisations for why it would be good to avoid them: they're >> difficult to use, nothing seems the way you expect, things are >> inconsistent between each one, they lack the professional polish of the >> multinational chains, and so on. >> >> * You can learn more from your friend about modifying your Apple >> refrigerator to remove these restrictions she talks about. >> >> This seems to involve losing some of the things you like most about how >> it works, and definitely involves voiding the Apple warranty. >> >> * You can decide maybe all this trouble *is* because Apple has built those >> restrictions into the device. >> >> Perhaps sell it ? but nobody else is making anything nearly nice enough >> as a replacement. (Your ask your friend what she uses, and she shows you >> an *ice box* for her refrigeration, and you certainly don't want to go >> back to that!) >> >> -- >> \ ?I'm beginning to think that life is just one long Yoko Ono | >> `\ album; no rhyme or reason, just a lot of incoherent shrieks and | >> _o__) then it's over.? ?Ian Wolff | >> Ben Finney >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >> >> >> End of Discuss Digest, Vol 55, Issue 3 >> ************************************** > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss > _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss
