The one problem I see with the beverage and pizza analogies is that software is much easier and cheaper to customize than physical items. Sure, if I run a store, I can't afford to stock every beverage a customer might want. But I can easily set up a server with many, many, many Linux distributions for download. Even better, I can make a single Linux distribution that can be customized to meet whatever the customer desires.
Sure, there is a price for customization. Even the best customization is not as easy as something that works the way I want "out of the box". And allowing customization can make software tougher to maintain, and can hurt compatibility. But I think the difference is still great enough that it's tough to compare software to physical goods.
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The one problem I see with the beverage and pizza analogies is that software is much easier and cheaper to customize than physical items. Sure, if I run a store, I can't afford to stock every beverage a customer might want. But I can easily set up a server with many, many, many Linux distributions for download. Even better, I can make a single Linux distribution that can be customized to meet whatever the customer desires. Sure, there is a price for customization. Even the best customization is not as easy as something that works the way I want "out of the box". And allowing customization can make software tougher to maintain, and can hurt compatibility. But I think the difference is still great enough that it's tough to compare software to physical goods.