Time for a car comparison. People frequently will pay extra for high quality (or at least the perception of it). The problem is that in the presence of networ

Time for a car comparison. People frequently will pay extra for high quality (or at least the perception of it). The problem is that in the presence of network effects, they usually won't. Cars are a great example here: they're expensive, they're complex, and there's a huge number of different models available. If you just want the cheapest thing available, you can go buy a Chevy Spark or whatever the current bargain-basement model is. But people don't, they'll spend more money on a Japanese car because they think (rightly so, IMO, and also based on reliability records) it's higher quality and more reliable than an American-brand car, even though it costs more to get one with similar features. Or they'll buy a German car for similar reasons. But when you buy a Honda or BMW instead of a Chevy, this isn't going to hurt you in any way: you'll be able to drive on all the same streets, park in the same parking spaces, etc. You might have a more limited selection of mechanics. Same goes for, say, clothing or shoes. You can buy some cheap crap from Walmart, or spend a lot more for something else. But you're not going to be prevented from walking into a certain restaurant because you bought a $100 pair of shoes instead of a crappy $15 pair of shoes. This isn't the case with software. If you decide Windows is horrible junk (esp. with Windows 10 and its spyware) and decide not to use it, you're suddenly going to be prevented from using a lot of software.