From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1ea92c0e5255811d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-03-03 10:46:15 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeed1.bredband.com!bredband!uio.no!ntnu.no!not-for-mail From: Preben Randhol Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Way OT: Adam Smith and Software Markets Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 18:46:14 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Norwegian university of science and technology Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: kiuk0152.chembio.ntnu.no X-Trace: tyfon.itea.ntnu.no 1046717174 14886 129.241.83.78 (3 Mar 2003 18:46:14 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@itea.ntnu.no NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 18:46:14 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: slrn/0.9.7.4 (Linux) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:34835 Date: 2003-03-03T18:46:14+00:00 List-Id: Marin David Condic wrote: > Just remember that "Quality" is something that is defined by the purchaser > and doesn't necessarily line up with the technologist's view of what makes > something "better". One might consider Microsoft Word to be an inferior, > buggy, bloated software product, but is that what the consumer sees? Maybe > they see "compatibility with the rest of the world" to be a big deal. Maby > they think "low price" is more important - or "Integration with other > Microsoft Products" is a key value. All other things being equal, they might > prefer one that was less bloated and more bug-free but all other things are > seldom equal, are they? Or they might not prefer it but be force into using it because allmost everybody else uses it (or feels forced to...). > And yes, Word is superior in many ways to earlier word processors (Does > anybody *really* want to go back to using TECO? Well, maybe *somebody* does, > but they are far and few between.) and that's an example of where market > forces allowed a better product to supplant inferior products. There are > probably things emerging that would be "better" than Word and they may > eventually emerge on top too. Well I read an article once that showed that the efficiency of writing had not improved since 1980s despite the changes in the word processors. However, I cannot recall where I read it so this so this cannot be submitted as evidence ;-) However, try writing a paper with some 20 equations and figures and tables and you'll soon see how frustrating Word is. Top it of with that the paper has to be in Letter format (or A4 for those who use Letter) and you'll go nuts. Word works for two page memos, but not much more IMHO. I don't know about TECO (probably before my time), but I don't think WP5.1 was much poorer than the Word of today. But give me LaTeX and I'll be happy. ;-) > Markets work - just not necessarily overnight nor according to what > the technologist may prefer. The market works poorly in the desktop business as there is a monopoly situation. The competition seem to be eaten by the monopolist. However, there seem to be evidence that things may change in the future, hopefully. The only reason why Microsoft hasn't been able to remove Linux etc.. as a threat is that they cannot buy it. Preben -- () Join the worldwide campaign to protect fundamental human rights. '||} {||' http://www.amnesty.org/