Yes, I know you and I agree. All I was doing was fleshing out your idea a bit and adding cross-struts to it.
I really think its pretty elegant an analogy to use, pointing out that the addendums are devices to attach to the ports of the base unit and so forth, because it is so darn accurate an analogy. The base unit needs addendums because the addendums add functionality, but to say the only value is in the addendums overstates things a tad, LOL.
If there is no value in the base unit of which a computer consists, just try walking out of a Best Buy without paying for the computer itself. Or try using a mouse unconnected to anything at all. The two kinds of things are symbiotic, so it is not accurate to alledge that value only rests with one of the two sets of objects in the equation.