4 ms·

I think the author answers his own question in this post: "There are tons of new 'Diggs' popping up because development time is much shorter with online websi

I think the author answers his own question in this post: "There are tons of new 'Diggs' popping up because development time is much shorter with online websites and applications than what we are used to seeing with desktop apps." Yes there are a ton of Digg clones but none of them are Digg. Cloning something doesn't make it popular, it just makes it a clone. If you copied 37Signals products, even if copied them perfectly, it still wouldn't hurt them much. The people who are using that software don't have the time to host their own solution, and they don't want to mess with ads. Besides they are already using the 37Signals products, you would have to have something that made your product better to get people to switch. We all know how much better OS X is over Windows and look how hard it is to get those people to switch. The same thing applies here.

aston 20y ago
You've completely omitted the real reason people stay with Digg: network effects. The more people using a Digg-like site, the more valuable it is. Digg clones don't have the traffic, so of course they can't compete. Switching from Windows to Mac is more of an issue of legacy. If all of the software you like using works only on Windows, and if all of the people in your organization only know Windows, it's going to be difficult (costly) for you to switch. How are these related to 37signals products? Not very. There are no network effects involved, so that's out. And while you may have a legacy with 37signals, it's such a new product, your organization could probably afford to switch to a competitor without much cost. The question posed in the article is a good one, then, since if you could match feature for feature and you could do it for cheaper, you'd beat 37signals at their own game.

4 ms·

I think the author answers his own question in this post: "There are tons of new 'Diggs' popping up because development time is much shorter with online websi

by Readmore 20y ago

aston 20y ago
You've completely omitted the real reason people stay with Digg: network effects. The more people using a Digg-like site, the more valuable it is. Digg clones don't have the traffic, so of course they can't compete. Switching from Windows to Mac is more of an issue of legacy. If all of the software you like using works only on Windows, and if all of the people in your organization only know Windows, it's going to be difficult (costly) for you to switch. How are these related to 37signals products? Not very. There are no network effects involved, so that's out. And while you may have a legacy with 37signals, it's such a new product, your organization could probably afford to switch to a competitor without much cost. The question posed in the article is a good one, then, since if you could match feature for feature and you could do it for cheaper, you'd beat 37signals at their own game.