8 ms·
The motive for profit drives the motive to keep secrets.
by hahainternet 13y ago
The motive for profit drives the motive to keep secrets.
- Aldo_MX 13y agoWhen the competition starts using your own improvements/innovations against your products, you are obliged to keep the secret.
- pessimizer 13y agobecause capitalism.
- hahainternet 13y agoThis is only the case when you have something to fear from superior competition. That is the capitalist system. Even in the FOSS world, which is largely affected by capitalism the spirit of sharing and collective advancement is incredibly common.
- Aldo_MX 13y agoLet me rephrase my statement, because I didn't make my main idea clear enough: "When the competition starts using your own improvements/innovations against your products, and they are not moving a single finger to push innovation, you are obliged to keep the secret." I don't mind if the competition improves my work, this is more than enough incentive to push innovation forward, but when the competition stalls and makes a verbatim implementation of my work, or worse enough, depends solely on my improvements to stay relevant, I honestly prefer to keep the secret to myself. I don't want parasite competitors, I want talented competitors.
- jolohaga 13y ago"This is only the case when you have something to fear from superior competition" What you describe also occurred/occurs in Cuba, and that's not a capitalistic regime.
- hahainternet 13y agoI'm unsure of your point. Of course it's not capitalist to share, but that doesn't mean it's not right.
- zobzu 13y agoisn't that the spirit of open source? Yep IS IT.
- vutekst 13y agoThere are many motives for keeping secrets. Look at the NSA, or pretty much any government.
- hahainternet 13y agoWell certainly, but in this case the motivation is anticompetitive.
- alexeisadeski3 13y agoOr procompetitive, depending on one's outlook.
- hahainternet 13y agoI fail to see how keeping secrets can be procompetitive. The existence of a larger barrier to entry surely prevents competition.
- alexeisadeski3 13y agoIt rewards success and thus incentivizes more competition.
- bestham 13y agoWell, in this particular case I agree. Its unlikley that you will make your own ARM SOC or blobs because the Snapdragon blobs are unavalible to you. But one can see the secrets as an anti-feature and choose an alternative supplier that is less secret. While Google / Asus didnt the end users might.
- hahainternet 13y agoAh I see you're saying that keeping secrets may motivate clients to pick someone other than you, and potentially increase competitiveness if the market presence of 'secret keepers' is minimal. I think it's pretty tricky to consider that a real 'effect', as if the alternative companies kept secrets then it would be just as bad.
- mikevm 13y agoIt also drives innovation.
- fhd2 13y agoQuite the contrary in my experience, capitalism typically restrains innovation. Patent trolls are just one of many examples. Not saying I've got a better idea than capitalism, but I wouldn't consider it ideal.
- simonh 13y agoIt's the worst system we know of, except for all the others.
- TelmoMenezes 13y agoPatents are only possible through government regulation. Without the government's interference, there would be no such concept. Pure capitalism has no patents.
- 15charusername 13y agoEven with Patent trolls and week patents, patents still allow companies to license innovative technology rather than hide it away for fear of copying (ala qualcomm) Patents are a good idea, it's the current implementation that sucks
- antihero 13y agoIt may be a factor on slow improvement, but true innovation comes from the passionate minds of geniuses.