Am Mittwoch, den 05.03.2008, 00:31 -0500 schrieb Barry Margolin:
> My complaint wasn't about the difference in industries, it was about the
> fact that they're dumping CRAP. And they're getting people to buy the
> crap by selling it really cheaply compared to the good stuff.
This wouldn't be a problem except for the network effects.
E.g. if Word is crap, and Word's closed formats force everybody into
using Word because you get Word files by email and can't use other
software to open it, then you're forced into buying and using crap. (For
many people, the having to use crap is the worst aspect of it all.)
It's the network effects (plus the extremely high market entry barriers)
that make some types of software what theorists call a "natural
monopoly".
Regards,
Jo