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A duopoly will be marginally better at implementing user-friendly features like privacy than a monopoly, because there is at least nominal competition. However
by apatters 7y ago
A duopoly will be marginally better at implementing user-friendly features like privacy than a monopoly, because there is at least nominal competition.
However I think we need to start asking deeper questions - why is it that concentration is so prevalent in the software industry?
Software is often said to have "natural" monopoly characteristics, but are those characteristics really a product of "nature" in the way that say the laws of physics are, or are they a product of IP laws and the regulatory choices made by the government?
- inapis 7y agoI feel it’s because of network effects as well as inability to steal IP easily. Network effects purely because once you have enough mass of people on board, you can easily attract more people and it is easy enough to distinguish yourself from your competitors that it deters people from switching and/or even being able to make a comparison. Second you can’t easily steal IP. Anker making a next generation charger will have to face copycats who went to their OEM and were sold the design or the product itself from the backdoor. It’s simply difficult to keep things under wraps when it has a physical + human component. Not so easy in software. To substitute Instagram you’ll probably [0] have to write everything from scratch. Computers when configured correctly will not exactly sell your work from the back door. [0] I mean source code is still stolen but it’s still marginally harder to use source code than just selling the stolen designs. Plus stealing source code works only once because the victim will then clamp down harder and then continue to innovate it’s way out of the mess.