Yes, I'd agree with this. The phrase is just a little too blunt to be fully accurate, which is why I like it. Many things in life seem to work optimally when w

Yes, I'd agree with this. The phrase is just a little too blunt to be fully accurate, which is why I like it. Many things in life seem to work optimally when we take them with an "ebb-and-flow" style pattern. For example, I'm a fan of seasons of feast and seasons of famine when it comes to trying out new software: In seasons of feast, I throw caution to the wind and try anything new and shiny which looks appealing to me, and then in seasons of famine, I prune, prune, prune away anything which doesn't directly serve my purpose. There's a similar ebb and flow here. The largest community is very "means to an end" oriented. The power users often view the tool as a thing of beauty in itself, at least for a little while. That's the "end in itself" ebb. The hackers transcend this and view the tool as an imperfect, vexing beauty, and wish to create something even more beautiful -- but that's where things wrap back around, because the beauty does ultimately come from how well it is suited as a means to the end!