This article is helpful for understanding OTel, but I still always get stuck at understanding the differences between collectors and exporters. I might wonder "why doesn't the SDK just send data directly to an exporter? Or "isn't the collectors job to export data to the exporter?"

I think a few simple examples that explain at high level the reason or need for the architecture would be really useful. Maybe something like "here is how OTel fits into a typical serverless application."