4 ms·

It's not a competitor until it has the content to compete for my business. I don't consider Blockbuster a competitor to Netflix. I don't consider the ice cream

• dvtrn 8y ago
  Refusing to offer patronage to alternative and competitive services, while bemoaning the lack of alternative and competitive services is a baffling position, surely you can see the irony?
  • Spivak 8y ago
    I see no irony -- it's no individual's responsibility to ensure that a functioning market exists or to voluntarily use a worse service/product out of some vague sense of duty.
    • ttoinou 8y ago
      I understand ; one that hold this opinion must believe that every service that he uses is a pure monopoly then
      • Spivak 8y ago
        That's only true in a world where everyone has the same preferences. People don't drink Pepsi because they think Coke needs competition, they drink it because they like the taste.
        • ttoinou 8y ago
          Of course, I meant for example if this consumer thought Coke is a bad monopoly that should be broken that would be a little bit illogical to me, because there's Pepsi and other soda. Remember the great great parent just said that Opera is not a competitor to Chrome, which is really really an odd statement
          • Faark 8y ago
            Why have some people here such a hard time acknowledging that strong network effects can be one form of market failure? A network effect is a classical prisoners dilemma / tragedy of the commons / whatever it's called for everyone but the few involved making money... youtube and publishers. The "market" will have a hard time fixing itself. As with other market failures, it will probably only happen because of regulation, or the threat thereof.
            • ttoinou 8y ago
              It's not. There's no prisoners dilemma and tragedy of the commons have all to do with difficulties in setting property rights, not related to market failure
    • kortilla 8y ago
      It’s not duty, it’s voting with your page views.