4 ms·

You seem to have an encoded assumption that smaller mom-and-pop businesses are desired by the market and are being crowded out. I don't think that's true, I thi

You seem to have an encoded assumption that smaller mom-and-pop businesses are desired by the market and are being crowded out. I don't think that's true, I think the average consumer doesn't especially care about the size of the corporation they're dealing with. In my experience (and yes, obviously there are the Patagonia exceptions to this general statement), people care about price, quality, convenience, and then ethics. In that order.

maxxxxx 9y ago
Probably true as far consumer attitude goes. But in the long run it's healthier to have many small players. I think the fact that Google, Facebook and Apple are so dominant is already killing a lot of innovation.
- fixermark 9y ago
  Why is it healthy to have many small players? Larger companies have the resources to put experts on hard problems. They also have the vested incentive (since they have more to lose if they fail) to handle things like security correctly---I trust Facebook and Google to use security and authentication best-practices much more than J. Random Startup, for example.
  - walkingolof 9y ago
    The best example is gaming, imagine no-indies, you would have to chose between an NBA Game, the latest Quake and a Driving game each year, the next year, same thing but with more polygons, that is "safe" AAA games that publishers bet on, they do not create games like Fes, DwarfFortress or EvE.
    - fixermark 9y ago
      Gaming is a totally different ecosystem to what Google builds. I want something very different from my entertainment than from my information-seeking and business services.
  - maxxxxx 9y ago
    Because big companies set the hurdle really high for new technology to succeed. Either they buy the new company and kill the product or they can re-implement the feature. To me mobile devices are an example of this. PalmOS or FirefoxOS could maybe have succeeded if Android and iOS weren't that overwhelming. Apple and Google can control whatever they want to be on their devices and what they don't like. Innovation is pretty much stopped.
    - fixermark 9y ago
      As a former owner of several generations of Palm devices and a former Palm developer, I must regrettably suggest that it wasn't Apple or Google's control of their respective ecosystems that killed PalmOS. Palm hardware was unreliable and plagued with battery breakdown problems.

maxxxxx 9y ago

Probably true as far consumer attitude goes. But in the long run it's healthier to have many small players. I think the fact that Google, Facebook and Apple are so dominant is already killing a lot of innovation.

fixermark 9y ago
Why is it healthy to have many small players? Larger companies have the resources to put experts on hard problems. They also have the vested incentive (since they have more to lose if they fail) to handle things like security correctly---I trust Facebook and Google to use security and authentication best-practices much more than J. Random Startup, for example.
- walkingolof 9y ago
  The best example is gaming, imagine no-indies, you would have to chose between an NBA Game, the latest Quake and a Driving game each year, the next year, same thing but with more polygons, that is "safe" AAA games that publishers bet on, they do not create games like Fes, DwarfFortress or EvE.
  - fixermark 9y ago
    Gaming is a totally different ecosystem to what Google builds. I want something very different from my entertainment than from my information-seeking and business services.
- maxxxxx 9y ago
  Because big companies set the hurdle really high for new technology to succeed. Either they buy the new company and kill the product or they can re-implement the feature. To me mobile devices are an example of this. PalmOS or FirefoxOS could maybe have succeeded if Android and iOS weren't that overwhelming. Apple and Google can control whatever they want to be on their devices and what they don't like. Innovation is pretty much stopped.
  - fixermark 9y ago
    As a former owner of several generations of Palm devices and a former Palm developer, I must regrettably suggest that it wasn't Apple or Google's control of their respective ecosystems that killed PalmOS. Palm hardware was unreliable and plagued with battery breakdown problems.