[Ilugc] Is the proprietary camp winning ?
- From: vamlists@xxxxxxxxx (Vamsee Kanakala)
- Date: Sun Oct 15 13:15:25 2006
Sivakumar Ma wrote:
With market driven private research we find more money going in for hair
loss treatment compared to treatment to Malaria. Research is better done
through public funding.
Quite subjective. If a company wants to give you better hair, why stop
it? There are pharma companies (I'm not saying they are paragons of
virtue) which spend billions of dollars on R&D on stuff like malaria,
aids and what not.
When a company grows too big, its focus is only on their customers. They
lose sight of other opportunities. With Microsoft's pc monopoly, the
personal pc paradigm froze at desktops. MS would not invest in develop a
new paradigm, why should they?
And they completely missed the 'web as platform' paradigm - which Google
is dominating now. When companies become insular to change, they die.
Quite acceptable, and that's how it should be. Creative destruction :).
If there were free play of ideas, probably we would have half a dozen
personal pc user interface paradigms to suit different cultures, use
patterns.
I'm not really trying to make a point here, but are you sure you want
that? Do you really want to learn half-a-dozen desktop paradigms to help
a hapless user? Or would he prefer working on a different desktop
everytime he changes companies? He simply doesn't care. Standardization
has it's own benefits. Use when it makes sense. Innovate and change it
when it gets cumbersome.
Otherwise corporations do not have the basic right to life as an
individual
does. It is a creation of our legal system. that is all.
No, there is a need for such a structure while conducting business. The
legal system or government makes certain rules under which they can
operate, so that they don't cheat each other or the consumers. Which is
fine. What I'm trying to say is, the courts or government don't
_sanction_ a company. There is a need for such a structure, so the govt.
recognizes it and provides a framework for it's operation.
Your crown jewels should be customer service and delivering efficient
products. Why should be hoarded information be the crown jewels of a
company?
Because, efficiency is not the only game in town, as Dell is finding out
painfully, as Apple has just surpassed it in revenues and market cap.
Tell me honestly, what do you prefer? A me-too Dell/Compaq/HP laptop or
a MacBookPro? When you do ground-breaking stuff, you want to keep it
under wraps until the technology is workable and make sure your
competitors won't steal your work and beat you to the market. I guess
the argument turns philosophical too, from here. As for me, as a
consumer, I really don't care if Apple keeps it's plans secret as long
as it's turning out those yummy products. If Apple becomes lazy, there's
always another Zune to keep it awake.
That model is flawed and does not benefit the industry as a whole,
that is
my understanding.
Sure, it's your opinion. Only time will tell which is more sustainable.
That is what happening in thousands of start ups around the world. In
10-15
years we will have a truly free market economy (atleast in software
industry), free of domination by the monsters.
Sure, but some of those startups are sure to become Goliaths (or
monsters, so to speak) but a free market economy always has incentives
for Davids to stand up and take a shot at them :). Thanks, good points,
it's a pleasure to have a discussion when there's no acrimony in the
arguments.
Vamsee.
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