The Parable of 500 Parts
A Berglas,
June 2010.
For
his 18th birthday, the king took the prince to town to buy him his
first watch, just as the king's father had done many years before.
They went to the High street, and came to a shop that displayed
an ornate silver watch which boasted 100 moving parts. 100!
The prince was very impressed, but the king said that no, that
was not suitable, and they moved on.
They soon came to a bigger
shop that displayed an even more ornate gold watch which boasted 500
moving parts. It had no less than seven different dials and nine
buttons on the side. The prince was even more impressed, but the
king said no, that was not suitable either.
As they moved on,
the prince wondered what amazing technology lay ahead. They
turned off the main street, and went down some narrow alleys before
they came to a small shop. In the window, was a plain brass watch
which boasted only 7 moving parts. A working watch with
just 7 moving parts.
The king recognized the old
watchmaker as the one that had sold his father the watch that the king
still carried with him. It had but one dial, and it did but one
thing, it told the time. The king purchased the watch and
presented it to the prince, who pretended to be grateful.
Of
course, as soon as the king was gone, the prince went back to the small
shop, returned the watch, and demanded the king's money back. He
then went to the High street and bought the gold watch on his
father's credit, along with a three week training course to understand
all its marvellous features. And every few weeks thereafter he
would send the watch back to the shop for tuning and repairs. And
if the prince should want to know the time he would look out the
window and say "it's still quite early" or "it's looking fairly late"
because he could never remember which dial on the watch to read should
it ever be working correctly.
Over the years the gold watch
smith produced new and ever more complex designs. They boasted
1,000, 2,000, and finally 5,000 moving parts. The latter was a
stunning piece of technology, although it was too large to fit in one's
pocket and not even the watch smith could remember how to wind it up.
The prince dutifully purchased each one as it was produced, proud
to be the owner of the latest technology.
By and by the old king died, and the prince tossed his old brass watch, still ticking, to a passing beggar.
The
moral of the tale is, of course, that the gold watch smith lived a rich
and comfortable life paid for by those that could, whereas the brass
watch smith eked out a cold, hard living making occasional sales to the
few that understood.
(Inspired by software I have had to deal with.)
