Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 13:17:45 -0800 From: "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com> To: "Terry Lambert" <tlambert@primenet.com> Cc: <chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Judge: "Gates Was Main Culprit" Message-ID: <000401bf352f$0504f810$021d85d1@youwant.to> In-Reply-To: <199911222104.OAA26554@usr01.primenet.com>
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> > > > Is it possible for company to cause the adoption of lesser > > > > technology purely by business/marketing tactics? > > > > > > Yes. It required the ability to wield what is called "monopolistic > > > power" in the marketplace. If you can wield this power, you can > > > subvert normal free-market pressures, and by subverting, ignore them. > > > > Then why is it that not one single clear example of this has ever been > > found? This must be some extreme usage of the word "possible". > > I don't understand what you mean; do you mean "has ever been found > by David"? If I meant that, I would have said that. > I can cite many examples. > > I also don't understand whether you are referring to the wielding > of monopolistic power, or the adoption of a lesser technology. No, I'm not referring to the wielding of monopolistic power. That's vague enough that almost anything would count as an example. What I'm talking about is lock in to an inferior technology in the presence of a superior technology (one that's indisputably superior in the range of 20% or more). > I can cite many examples of either, if you would clarify what it is > you are talking about. I'm talking about tipping or network affects locking us into an inferior technology. And the reason I don't think examples will be found is quite simple -- even though discarding compatability is painful, as soon as it's profitable, we find a way to do it. We aren't still stuck using 8 bit computers, are we? DS To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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