Nothing Beats a Little Validation

When you work in technology it’s hard to explain to your non-technical friends and family members (especially when you work in open source) what you do. Conversations with your elder family members go something like this:

Me: I went to work for an open source software company.
Grandma: Oh that’s nice….what’s open source software?
Me: It’s software that’s free to download and can be altered and redistributed by anyone.
Grandma (puzzled look): Then how do you make money if you give it away?
Me: Well we offer support and service for the software.
Grandma (confused look): That’s nice, I guess.

Today we were featured in the Baltimore Sun a paper my Grandmother reads, as do the relatives of many other Zenoss employees. I suspect today’s conversation will go something like this.

Grandma: I see your company is in the paper. Your company must be very important.
Me: Yes it is.
Grandma: I see they use it in hospitals, I am sure my doctor uses it then.
Me (chuckling): Yep Grandma, I am sure he does.