It's efficient, modifiable, and develops rapidly. There is a strong community spirit. Linux adheres to truly open standards. Bugs are usually fixed quickly, partly because the developers are accessible, responsive, and interested. Open pollinated seeds are seeds which can be planted and yield a plant very similar to its parents.
Hybrid seeds are crosses between species or strains of plants.
Planting a seed from a hybrid plant will give unpredictable and generally undesirable results. Large seed companies prefer marketing hybrids, as the customer will have to buy new seed year after year, rather than saving seeds from productive plants to plant in subsequent years. In contrast, a grower who saves seed from open-pollinated plants can exert an influence on the variety by selecting seed from especially healthy and productive plants. This evolving strain will eventually become better adapted to the local soil and climate. Coincidentally enough, someone who keeps a plant variety alive through the years is referred to as the maintainer of the variety, and like a maintainer of a free software package, attempts to pass the responsibility on when he or she is unable to continue the effort.