9 ms·

Nope. You (and most libertarian/capitalist cheerleaders, to be fair) whooshed on a classic scenario: Microsoft has no reason to innovate when they're a monopoly

Nope. You (and most libertarian/capitalist cheerleaders, to be fair) whooshed on a classic scenario: Microsoft has no reason to innovate when they're a monopoly. It gets worse. Startup X (you like startups, right?) has a brilliant idea that they bring to market, only for Microsoft to buy them out and kill the idea. Startup Y has a brilliant idea, but they get smarter, they don't sell, and then Microsoft copies their tech and outcompetes them with their war chest. Then they kill the technology. Startup Z has a brilliant idea, but they get even smarter and never bother bringing it to market because Microsoft will just kill it. Go capitalism.

asddddd 8y ago
> Startup X (you like startups, right?) has a brilliant idea that they bring to market, only for Microsoft to buy them out and kill the idea. Why can't X_2 bring the same idea to market again?
- brisance 8y ago
  Because Big Corp has many advantages, such as being the owner of Startup X's intellectual property.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - blackflame7001 8y ago
    So how did Netflix dethrone Comcast if Goliath always wins?
    - thatcat 8y ago
      You're stretcing that analogy way to thin. Comcast took the strategy of continuing to push hardware cable boxes on people because it made them twice as much revenue as netflix despite netflix's high gains in Q4 2017. Now that they've successfully eleminated net neutrality, it will be fairly easy to slow down or charge netflix more for peering and if they successfully buy up hulu / fox to integrate their own original productions it will give them full vertical integration.
      - blackflame7001 8y ago
        Naw, 5G will finally end the telecom monopoly on the utility poles. Netflix bet blockbuster by being smarter, Microsoft lost its edge in mobile by being complacent. Monopolies in a non-crony version of capitalism are not bad in their own right.
      - blackflame7001 8y ago
        Naw, 5G will finally end the telecom monopoly on the utility poles. Netflix beat blockbuster by being smarter, Microsoft lost its edge in mobile by being complacent. Monopolies in a non-crony version of capitalism are not bad in their own right.
        thatcat 8y ago
        And how long before 5G hits most of their markets?
phlakaton 8y ago
Startup W has a cool product, but Microsoft threatens to raise the price of Windows on any company that pre-installs it. The technology dies in obscurity. So it goes.
- blackflame7001 8y ago
  this scenario has literally never happened. I wish I could downvote this stupid comment because it's moronic.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > this scenario has literally never happened. It's very similar to what happened with Netscape, except they simply prohibited it rather than increasing price because of it.
  - xenomachina 8y ago
    Microsoft wanted to kill of upstart Netscape so they changed the Windows NT license and pricing. NT Workstation became limited by the license to a very small number of clients, regardless of what server software you wanted to run on it. For more than a handful of clients you were required to purchase a much more expensive server edition which was basically the same, but included IIS, Microsoft's web server. In other words, to legally use Netscape's (or anyone else's) web server on Windows NT, you still had to buy Microsoft's web server. See also: http://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.html http://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.html
  - phlakaton 8y ago
    To the contrary: it happened to _my_ company, with a minor detail that I omitted: what they objected to was having the software preinstalled _and visible on the desktop._ The end result was the same. Our company sued Microsoft over it. There was a settlement.
blackflame7001 8y ago
Then how did Netflix dethrone Comcast? Goliath doesn't always win. The person who makes the superior product wins. Apple is almost never first to market with an idea anymore because they simply wait and do it better. New companies with better ideas are constantly upsetting the apple cart. For god sakes take a look at the mighty brick and mortar stores like Macy's, JCPenny, and nostrums once thought invincible. Goliath only wins, in the minds of people like you who think they can't be beaten.

asddddd 8y ago

> Startup X (you like startups, right?) has a brilliant idea that they bring to market, only for Microsoft to buy them out and kill the idea. Why can't X_2 bring the same idea to market again?

brisance 8y ago
Because Big Corp has many advantages, such as being the owner of Startup X's intellectual property.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- blackflame7001 8y ago
  So how did Netflix dethrone Comcast if Goliath always wins?
  - thatcat 8y ago
    You're stretcing that analogy way to thin. Comcast took the strategy of continuing to push hardware cable boxes on people because it made them twice as much revenue as netflix despite netflix's high gains in Q4 2017. Now that they've successfully eleminated net neutrality, it will be fairly easy to slow down or charge netflix more for peering and if they successfully buy up hulu / fox to integrate their own original productions it will give them full vertical integration.
    - blackflame7001 8y ago
      Naw, 5G will finally end the telecom monopoly on the utility poles. Netflix bet blockbuster by being smarter, Microsoft lost its edge in mobile by being complacent. Monopolies in a non-crony version of capitalism are not bad in their own right.
    - blackflame7001 8y ago
      Naw, 5G will finally end the telecom monopoly on the utility poles. Netflix beat blockbuster by being smarter, Microsoft lost its edge in mobile by being complacent. Monopolies in a non-crony version of capitalism are not bad in their own right.
      - thatcat 8y ago
        And how long before 5G hits most of their markets?

phlakaton 8y ago

Startup W has a cool product, but Microsoft threatens to raise the price of Windows on any company that pre-installs it. The technology dies in obscurity. So it goes.

blackflame7001 8y ago
this scenario has literally never happened. I wish I could downvote this stupid comment because it's moronic.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > this scenario has literally never happened. It's very similar to what happened with Netscape, except they simply prohibited it rather than increasing price because of it.
- xenomachina 8y ago
  Microsoft wanted to kill of upstart Netscape so they changed the Windows NT license and pricing. NT Workstation became limited by the license to a very small number of clients, regardless of what server software you wanted to run on it. For more than a handful of clients you were required to purchase a much more expensive server edition which was basically the same, but included IIS, Microsoft's web server. In other words, to legally use Netscape's (or anyone else's) web server on Windows NT, you still had to buy Microsoft's web server. See also: http://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.html http://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.html
- phlakaton 8y ago
  To the contrary: it happened to _my_ company, with a minor detail that I omitted: what they objected to was having the software preinstalled _and visible on the desktop._ The end result was the same. Our company sued Microsoft over it. There was a settlement.

blackflame7001 8y ago

Then how did Netflix dethrone Comcast? Goliath doesn't always win. The person who makes the superior product wins. Apple is almost never first to market with an idea anymore because they simply wait and do it better. New companies with better ideas are constantly upsetting the apple cart. For god sakes take a look at the mighty brick and mortar stores like Macy's, JCPenny, and nostrums once thought invincible. Goliath only wins, in the minds of people like you who think they can't be beaten.