[theshrike79]

It's like trying to build an "Open Source Gas Station chain".

Yes, you can hack up a storage container and a pump with "open source" bits, but that's not what makes it useful.

What makes it useful is the fact that there is a $chain Gas Station in every nook and cranny. And that's not something openness can change.

[evolve2k]

To butcher your an analogy, an open source gas station chain would be a publicly an available light rail; one that replaces driving for many citizens along the route.

Openness helps kill off rent seekers. This might be the deeper concept that sits behind the original authors question.