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> Big tech has always driven me mad with how they leverage their monoplies once they reach a certain size. This book explains everything: https://store.hbr.or

> Big tech has always driven me mad with how they leverage their monoplies once they reach a certain size. This book explains everything: https://store.hbr.org/product/information-rules-a-strategic-guide-to-the-network-economy/863X https://store.hbr.org/product/information-rules-a-strategic-... I’ve never seen it in a library, but you can occasionally find used copies, if you don’t want to buy a brand-new book that is a roadmap to doing things you disagree with.

VHRanger 2y ago
Oh wow, those authors. For those not in the know, Carl Shapiro [1] and Hal Varian [2] are well known economics researchers. Hal Varian ended up working at Google building the AdWords auction after writing this it seems. For anyone wondering, there's this person called *Anna* that has an *archive* where the book can be found. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Shapiro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Shapiro 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Varian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Varian
- Gud 2y ago
  If they were responsible for AdWords, they’ve had a net negative influence on the web.
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  Somebody was telling me how Hal Varian was "evil" the other night and I added that Vint Cerf was one of the people Upton Sinclair meant when he said “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” [1] [1] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/21810-it-is-difficult-to-get-a-man-to-understand-something https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/21810-it-is-difficult-to-ge...
  - Gud 2y ago
    In what way does that relate to the works of Vint Cerf? Genuinely curious.
  - JadeNB 2y ago
    > Somebody was telling me how Hal Varian was "evil" the other night and I added that Vint Cerf was one of the people Upton Sinclair meant when he said “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” [1] This was probably metaphor, but, if meant literally, it seems unlikely: the "difficult" quote is from a 1935 publication (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair#Political_career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair#Political_caree...), and Vint Cerf was born in 1943 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf).
- jillyboel 2y ago
  Are you referring to https://annas-archive.org/ https://annas-archive.org/?
clown_strike 2y ago
It goes to a login page but I was curious enough to pry. ISBN 087584863X or 9780875848631, "Information Rules" by Carl Shapiro. Available on the prominent alternative procurement network.
echelon 2y ago
The real problem with these giant companies is that they can move into entirely new markets, eg. film production, and afford to lose massive amounts of money. They can effectively lose billions of dollars while gobbling up market share and starving the oxygen out of all the existing players in that market who need profits to sustain themselves. Amazon and Apple are undercutting Hollywood and losing money. They're subsidizing their Hollywood efforts with funds from unrelated business units (hardware, grocery stores, primary care doctors, etc.) You can get cheap (free) entertainment if you subscribe to Amazon Prime shipping, so why spend money on the competitor's product if entertainment is (at some gross sense and scale) fungible? The thing that needs to be broken up is the ability of these giants to subsidize moves into healthy existing markets or even nascent markets. They push out the incumbents with their massive cash hoards gained from unrelated business unit activity. They don't even try to profit at first until they've captured the market and suffocated the existing players. It's unfair that Amazon and Apple can make movies, buy out James Bond, Lord of the Rings, etc. off of their trillion dollar market caps, iPhones, and AWS profits. It's unfair that they can plaster free advertising on the side of their delivery vans or get free ad placement front and center in their App Store. That costs everyone else millions of dollars - a large percentage of the unit economics. Big tech has every advantage and is literally murdering entire markets with these insane, unfair advantages. These giant companies are like an invasive species. They're like lionfish moving into the Caribbean, killing all the local fauna. No natural predators. Complete decimation of the local ecology. Their behavior disconnects innovation, healthy and rational market monetization, and the actual rewards that should go to the investment and labor capital pioneering those areas. Institutional giants are snuffing out anything they see that they can expand into. Big companies need to be broken up for the sake of healthy markets and innovation. Big companies are gravitational singularities that distort everything.
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  And also with their overvalued stock they can pay employees in stock and also buy competitors in stock. Amazon might not be that much better than Target or Walmart but the market prices them in much better.
- randmeerkat 2y ago

VHRanger 2y ago

Oh wow, those authors. For those not in the know, Carl Shapiro [1] and Hal Varian [2] are well known economics researchers. Hal Varian ended up working at Google building the AdWords auction after writing this it seems. For anyone wondering, there's this person called *Anna* that has an *archive* where the book can be found. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Shapiro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Shapiro 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Varian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Varian

Gud 2y ago
If they were responsible for AdWords, they’ve had a net negative influence on the web.
PaulHoule 2y ago
Somebody was telling me how Hal Varian was "evil" the other night and I added that Vint Cerf was one of the people Upton Sinclair meant when he said “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” [1] [1] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/21810-it-is-difficult-to-get-a-man-to-understand-something https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/21810-it-is-difficult-to-ge...
- Gud 2y ago
  In what way does that relate to the works of Vint Cerf? Genuinely curious.
- JadeNB 2y ago
  > Somebody was telling me how Hal Varian was "evil" the other night and I added that Vint Cerf was one of the people Upton Sinclair meant when he said “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” [1] This was probably metaphor, but, if meant literally, it seems unlikely: the "difficult" quote is from a 1935 publication (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair#Political_career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair#Political_caree...), and Vint Cerf was born in 1943 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf).
jillyboel 2y ago
Are you referring to https://annas-archive.org/ https://annas-archive.org/?

clown_strike 2y ago

It goes to a login page but I was curious enough to pry. ISBN 087584863X or 9780875848631, "Information Rules" by Carl Shapiro. Available on the prominent alternative procurement network.

echelon 2y ago

The real problem with these giant companies is that they can move into entirely new markets, eg. film production, and afford to lose massive amounts of money. They can effectively lose billions of dollars while gobbling up market share and starving the oxygen out of all the existing players in that market who need profits to sustain themselves. Amazon and Apple are undercutting Hollywood and losing money. They're subsidizing their Hollywood efforts with funds from unrelated business units (hardware, grocery stores, primary care doctors, etc.) You can get cheap (free) entertainment if you subscribe to Amazon Prime shipping, so why spend money on the competitor's product if entertainment is (at some gross sense and scale) fungible? The thing that needs to be broken up is the ability of these giants to subsidize moves into healthy existing markets or even nascent markets. They push out the incumbents with their massive cash hoards gained from unrelated business unit activity. They don't even try to profit at first until they've captured the market and suffocated the existing players. It's unfair that Amazon and Apple can make movies, buy out James Bond, Lord of the Rings, etc. off of their trillion dollar market caps, iPhones, and AWS profits. It's unfair that they can plaster free advertising on the side of their delivery vans or get free ad placement front and center in their App Store. That costs everyone else millions of dollars - a large percentage of the unit economics. Big tech has every advantage and is literally murdering entire markets with these insane, unfair advantages. These giant companies are like an invasive species. They're like lionfish moving into the Caribbean, killing all the local fauna. No natural predators. Complete decimation of the local ecology. Their behavior disconnects innovation, healthy and rational market monetization, and the actual rewards that should go to the investment and labor capital pioneering those areas. Institutional giants are snuffing out anything they see that they can expand into. Big companies need to be broken up for the sake of healthy markets and innovation. Big companies are gravitational singularities that distort everything.

PaulHoule 2y ago
And also with their overvalued stock they can pay employees in stock and also buy competitors in stock. Amazon might not be that much better than Target or Walmart but the market prices them in much better.
randmeerkat 2y ago