> Is there an alternative they could compete on instead of the core tech? To add to what tim333 said: The core tech doesn't exist yet, and it will be very expe

> Is there an alternative they could compete on instead of the core tech? To add to what tim333 said: The core tech doesn't exist yet, and it will be very expensive to finish developing, so the companies must be incentivized to pursue it, which pretty much necessitates competition. And indeed, the history of science and tech development shows that competition is exceedingly beneficial, and in the vast majority of cases far outweighs the minor costs of cooperability layers. The advent of a standard protocol generally marks when technological progress has stopped (although this can beneficially allow tech progress on tools built on top of the protocol).