The Broken Windows Fallacy
from the good-point dept
For years, I've argued against people who bring up the VHS/Betamax argument as an example of an "inferior" technology that wins and gets "locked in". It's been shown that's something of a myth - as there were some very valid reasons why consumers chose VHS instead of Betamax. However, as this next article points out, many people still use that and other examples to try to prove their point. One of the more popular arguments is to say that Microsoft is in a similar position and beat out inferior technology and is now so locked in that no competitor can beat it. The article points out that even if that were true, take a look at the VHS example now... Suddenly, DVDs are forcing VHS tapes and machines off the market, proving that it is possible to beat "locked in" technologies in the marketplace. You just need to offer something that consumers see a real value in, above and beyond the current offering.
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Asinine
Nobody competes with MS for market share in any relevant way. Consumers have no choice.
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Difference
It's like cigarette companies gobbling up good food companies. If it started bad, it stays bad.
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Re: Asinine
If all the MS haters got off their asses and put half the energy into making a new OS as they do complaining about how evil MS is, we could have 50 different OS's to choose from by now.
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Re: Asinine
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Re: Asinine
Apple has a far better product that the folks at Redmond have enjoyed trying to emulate. The problem is the OS doesn't run on x86 machines. Like Sun, they are a hardware company that makes an OS. They are too busy pushing there hardware than squarely take on MS.
> I don't care how heavy handed MS's tactics are, most techies are not idiots.
I'm not sure what you mean here. It kind of sounds like two thoughts. MS' heavy handed tactics killed Netscape. What does that have to do with intelligence of a techie? What about non-techies?
> If a better OS with an easy GUI interface existed and was truly better, it would be used.
There have been far better GUI's out there. WinXP is the worse of the bunch. Win2k was better! No one uses Windows for its GUI aesthetics. they use it because it runs the software they need/want to run. Most people are running Windows because it was the only OS that the manufacturer was allowed to sell on the computer. Macs still remain much more expensive that their PC counterparts.
> If all the MS haters got off their asses and put half the energy into making a new OS as they do complaining about how evil MS is, we could have 50 different OS's to choose from by now.
Why do you think that everyone that hates MS has the ability to write operating systems? Have you ever experienced weather you didn't like? Did you compain about it? Did you get off your ass to create a weather controlling device? I guess you have no right to complain about the weather.
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Re: Asinine
>They are too busy pushing there hardware than squarely take on MS.
This was certainly true years ago--and Apple is still paying dearly for that decision not to license the OS--But keep in mind, it really hasn't been their decision to make for years. The fact of the matter is that it is selling the (overpriced) hardware that keeps them profitable. If they were to license the OS to other companies, they'd be out of business in no time and the tech industry would sorely miss a major innovator. They even tried to do this a few years back with PowerComputing, Motorola and Umax, and look what happened. It nearly killed the company (never mind the fact that PowerComputing made some great machines for good prices and I love & still use mine).
It is extremely difficult to make an OS and actually get people to use it (or even try it), let along get hardware manufacturers to sell machines preinstalled (and MS OEM deals make that pretty much impossible).
steve snyder
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