Explaining open source

This article gives a good way of explaining the difference between open and closed source to technophobes.

To communicate the importance of the ‘freedom to tinker’ that free software bestows on its users, for example, I invite people to ponder the absurdity of not being allowed to modify other people’s recipes for, say, Boeuf Bourgignon or fruit scones. I often make BB without using shallots, for example, and just chop standard onions into largish chunks.

It goes on to compare recipes and recipe mixes.