3 ms·
Well, that was pretty clear more than a decade ago. Proprietary technology has a monopolizing effect in capitalism. Since technology by definition has an expo
by benevol 9y ago
Well, that was pretty clear more than a decade ago.
Proprietary technology has a monopolizing effect in capitalism.
Since technology by definition has an exponential growth rate of efficiency, the monopolizing effect grows with it.
- patrickaljord 9y agoYeah like IBM in the 80's and Microsoft in the 90's, no, wait...
- MichaelGG 9y agoMicrosoft and IBM never had the penetration Google has as far as individuals depending on it for individual ideas and decisions, minute by minute. Nor were the network effects of Microsoft's products, however strong for interop/compat, anything close to what Facebook has. Many companies now only publish their information on Facebook. It's becoming harder and harder to even find a phone number for a business without hitting Facebook. Sometimes FB even requires a login before letting me see details (perhaps the business misconfigured their page?) If FB ever bans me (the person) for using a fake account, it'd be very difficult to do many "normal" things. If we get anti-net-neutrality markets going, like FB is already doing in some countries (I see "free WhatsApp/FB with any SIM card" offers all the time), this lockin will become even more powerful Also, MS still has a ton of power. But imagine how much worse it'd be if MS was sevrice-only. What if they decide to ban your company? It might be very difficult to remain in business if they could revoke all your Windows licenses (say, if you're in medical, or need MS compat for another reason). IBM perhaps less-so, since it's more real back-end systems.