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The Famous Article: > So basically Visual Basic 6. VB6 was great! But we’re not going to get a better VB6 because the economics just aren’t there anymore. As pr

The Famous Article: > So basically Visual Basic 6. VB6 was great! But we’re not going to get a better VB6 because the economics just aren’t there anymore. As programmers we expect all of our languages to be free and open source, but that’s actually super super weird. Most of the time people try to sell their software for “money”, and the clients with “money” are businesses. VB6 just happened to be released at a time when businesses needed to make desktop applications. Now all the money is in the web applications, so no-code people are selling tools to make web applications. This is one of my standing questions. In a purportedly capitalist system, why does unfilled demand exist in a market? The reason that comes to mind is non-capitalist drivers affecting the market. Do we need to address those, or confess that we're less capitalist than the press releases say?

RodgerTheGreat 4y ago
If the expected cost of developing a product is more than the expected profit, capitalists won't invest in the product even if demand exists. Capitalists are terrible at investing in basic R&D: long-term returns, hazy benefits, hazy costs. Only the fattest and most outrageously profitable corporations have an appetite for it, and it's always the first place to see cuts in a downturn. Occasionally an artist, a lunatic, an ideologue, or a combination of the above will look beyond the framework of profit and find some other reason for making an economically suboptimal decision. If they succeed, the state of the art is advanced, paving the way for capitalists to crawl out of their previous local maxima and start making copies and minor iterations.
- smitty1e 4y ago
  I agree with your points, but I submit that regulatory capture creates significant barriers to entry.
Kamq 4y ago
> In a purportedly capitalist system, why does unfilled demand exist in a market? Because people aren't, generally, willing to pay for things. The things people are willing to pay for, are pretty well covered. The remaining free things are generally the results of passion projects by the creators. This is going to create very different products than a market driven approach.

RodgerTheGreat 4y ago

If the expected cost of developing a product is more than the expected profit, capitalists won't invest in the product even if demand exists. Capitalists are terrible at investing in basic R&D: long-term returns, hazy benefits, hazy costs. Only the fattest and most outrageously profitable corporations have an appetite for it, and it's always the first place to see cuts in a downturn. Occasionally an artist, a lunatic, an ideologue, or a combination of the above will look beyond the framework of profit and find some other reason for making an economically suboptimal decision. If they succeed, the state of the art is advanced, paving the way for capitalists to crawl out of their previous local maxima and start making copies and minor iterations.

smitty1e 4y ago
I agree with your points, but I submit that regulatory capture creates significant barriers to entry.

Kamq 4y ago

> In a purportedly capitalist system, why does unfilled demand exist in a market? Because people aren't, generally, willing to pay for things. The things people are willing to pay for, are pretty well covered. The remaining free things are generally the results of passion projects by the creators. This is going to create very different products than a market driven approach.