[hcarvalhoalves]

Yeah, I'm playing with metaphors here. The point I want to get across is the code itself is just a means to an end. Just the code is often not a deliverable, unless you make money from software patents. Google doesn't make money because they sell a lot of code. Facebook doesn't get investment because they wrote a lot of code. That doesn't mean their code isn't valuable - it is. But it's the actual computation (e.g. execution of this codebase) that has real value. Get it?

[anthonyb]

That attitude leads to devaluing software, followed by bugs, a legacy codebase and not being able to extend your software when your competitors catch up. Programs and the problems that they solve are intertwined. You can't easily separate them - which is why your metaphor doesn't work.