There are longstanding lessons in this point that predate software. The US car companies slid in the 60s and 70s by incrementally cutting “irrelevant” costs, l

There are longstanding lessons in this point that predate software. The US car companies slid in the 60s and 70s by incrementally cutting “irrelevant” costs, like not painting under the seats, cheaper knobs, and the like. Each of these changes was imperceptible but their sum was noticeable. Ironically their own European and especially Japanese competition went the other way: started cheap (so people expected cheap knobs) and then incrementally moved upmarket (“Wow, this cheap car is nicer than I had expected” -> premium market). Right now the software and especially SaaS worlds seem stuck in their own 1970s Detroit era. Dangerous crap,but with little alternative. I don’t see any “Japanese manufacturers” (to extend the analogy) on the horizon.