> McDonald's is a "real estate company" I actually like the "McDonald's is a software company" lens– the idea being that they have miles of code describing how

> McDonald's is a "real estate company" I actually like the "McDonald's is a software company" lens– the idea being that they have miles of code describing how humans are to interact with one another, how to handle disagreements, how to make french fries– all with staggering precision in detail. More realistically I guess they're in the business of selling convenient-familiar-cheap-ish-food. The "real estate" elements and "software" elements help to achieve winner-takes-all effects re: convenience and familiarity.