Linux

Once upon a time I was into RC helicopters. This combined with working offshore as a bachelor and living in a tiny apartment with a jurassic era (but reliable) car meant that I had a pretty decent income and not a whole lot on which to spend it. So once in a while I visited my local RC store just to browse and chat with the people there and if I stumbled across something interesting I might buy it.

I was not that much into the building part of the helicopters, but I saw it as a means to an end. Something I had to do to be able to fly it. The flying part was the end.

One day I was visiting the store, this clerk I knew showed me this kit he had. Brand new, pre-assembled, perfect craftmanship had gone into putting the kit together. Governor controlling the engine, ability to negate the pitch, extra strong servo for the cyclic controls. She was a beauty, and if it wasn't for the fact that I was, at that point,saving up my money for something unrelated, I would've bought it.

"You guys pre-assemble kits now?" I asked out of curiosity. "Oh no, we don't have the time for that" the clerk replied. "But this one customer" he began "he buys new kits, builds them, and sells them back to us at a 10% loss"

My brain short circuited. Why?? The flying part was the reward. Why would you not fly it? Well, in retrospect I understand it. The guy liked building complex machines. He had no interest in flying the kits. He loved the building process and the craftmanship that went into it, and once he had assembled it as perfectly as could ever be done, he was finished with the kit, and on the lookout for something new. He had the time to do what he loved, so why not. Rumor has it that he could spend an entire day with a tachometer and an IR thermometer just to get the fuel mixture perfect, whereas I used to do that in 10 minutes and call it "good enough".

I never met the guy. But he sounds like an interesting character. If he ran Linux he'd be running arch. Not from the bragging rights, not for its usability, not for (insert common reason here). But simply because he loved the craftmanship that went into setting it up.