4 ms·

Are there examples of company who have successfully gone up the stack?

Areading314 6y ago
Microsoft?
alex_young 6y ago
Microsoft? They started with the OS, branched to languages, added Office (against much better competitors), started to control the browser and then antitrust happened.
- zabzonk 6y ago
  Actually, they started with languages, specifically BASIC, and then FORTRAN.
- golergka 6y ago
  Also, their gaming industry story. They used to be just an OS that games ran on, then released one of the leading consoles and now are one of the major publishers and studio owners.
  - ecpottinger 6y ago
    Also some of their hardware. For example lots of people love their mouse. On the other hand I know people who hate the Surface Pro.
compiler-guy 6y ago
As part of the commoditization of the pc, in the eighties and nineties, Asian pc hardware vendors went from basic manufacturing to simple assembly to motherboard layout to full system design. They basically went from subcontractors for Dell and the like, to almost completely replacing Dell and the line by moving up in the chain until Dell had very little value left to add.
froh 6y ago
Red Hat? From a mass market Linux to enterprise Linux maintenance to middleware (jboss) And from hardware enablement to virtualization to lightweight virtualization, cloud management and container orchestration?
chubot 6y ago
On reflection I think the BEST possible example must be Pixar. They are a shining example of going up the stack in a phenomenal way. They started with graphics rendering hardware: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_Image_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_Image_Computer And then they wanted to sell software: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_RenderMan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_RenderMan And then they ended up making movies! This is described in Ed Catmull's book and I think there's a documentary on Netflix too. --- I also think it's interesting that George Lucas started out as a special effects guy and then he made Star Wars. So the effects really do help the storytelling.

Microsoft?

Microsoft? They started with the OS, branched to languages, added Office (against much better competitors), started to control the browser and then antitrust happened.

zabzonk 6y ago
Actually, they started with languages, specifically BASIC, and then FORTRAN.
golergka 6y ago
Also, their gaming industry story. They used to be just an OS that games ran on, then released one of the leading consoles and now are one of the major publishers and studio owners.
- ecpottinger 6y ago
  Also some of their hardware. For example lots of people love their mouse. On the other hand I know people who hate the Surface Pro.

compiler-guy 6y ago

As part of the commoditization of the pc, in the eighties and nineties, Asian pc hardware vendors went from basic manufacturing to simple assembly to motherboard layout to full system design. They basically went from subcontractors for Dell and the like, to almost completely replacing Dell and the line by moving up in the chain until Dell had very little value left to add.

froh 6y ago

Red Hat? From a mass market Linux to enterprise Linux maintenance to middleware (jboss) And from hardware enablement to virtualization to lightweight virtualization, cloud management and container orchestration?

chubot 6y ago

On reflection I think the BEST possible example must be Pixar. They are a shining example of going up the stack in a phenomenal way. They started with graphics rendering hardware: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_Image_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_Image_Computer And then they wanted to sell software: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_RenderMan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_RenderMan And then they ended up making movies! This is described in Ed Catmull's book and I think there's a documentary on Netflix too. --- I also think it's interesting that George Lucas started out as a special effects guy and then he made Star Wars. So the effects really do help the storytelling.