Re: Way OT: Adam Smith and Software Markets

[Preben Randhol <randhol+news@pvv.org>]

Marin David Condic wrote:
> Preben Randhol <randhol+news@pvv.org> wrote in message
> news:slrnb678l5.2g1.randhol+news@kiuk0152.chembio.ntnu.no...
>>
>> Or they might not prefer it but be force into using it because allmost
>> everybody else uses it (or feels forced to...).
>>
> Nobody is "forced" into using Word - or any other word processor for that
> matter. If people use it for reasons of compatibility, then (as I observed)
> compatibility might be a major factor in "quality" and it is the thing that
> the market appears to want over other factors (such as "efficiency" or
> "reliability")

Oh? So when the university chooses Word as the standard I'm not forced
to use it? And who is choosing it? The administration, who writes
letters etc...

> Efficiency of writing is a whole different thing.

The point was that the productivity hadn't increased.

> You have needs that don't line up with the needs of a large majority of word
> processor users. Maybe you need something special. Choices are available. If
> you select Word and sacrifice the ability to write equations easily, then
> perhaps there are other factors in your decision.

No the point is that I cannot make the decision. When you work with
others it is not always your decision. Some conferences even requires
the manuscript to be in Word (sic!).

> If LaTeX does your job for you, great. The market worked and got you
> something you needed at a price you wanted to pay. If you can dream up a
> concept for a better word processor, perhaps you've got a potential
> product - one that might be written in Ada (just to bring it back on-topic.
>:-)

LaTeX is free as in free beer and has been around for year. Yes of
course, but the big problem is the inertia. You cannot easily produce a
Word compatible word processor, bcs the word format is neither open or
fixed. And until you can you cannot compete because *everybody* is using
Word. I cannot simply send a document written in say abiword to some
other person and expect him to have abiword on his computer. The problem
is that people are expecting word.

> Monopolies aren't a good thing because someone can use the enormous power to
> unfairly stiffle competition. But just remember that a monopoly didn't get
> there by putting a gun to your head. (Unless it is a government monopoly -
> then they *did* put a gun to your head.) Microsoft got to be as big as it
> did by offering free men a voluntary transaction and they accepted it.
> Microsoft is also in the process of losing its monopoly because others are
> offering free men a voluntary transaction and they are starting to accept
> that deal instead. (Linux being that case, but there are other OS's out
> there as well.)

Non that gains popularity as far as I know. My point is that Linux is
borderlining to work outside the traditional market. In the way that you
don't pay with money but rather with source code. I'm pretty sure that
had Linux been a small company, they would have been squished long ago.

> If one sees Microsoft as making poor quality crap and using heavy-handed

As opposed to quality crap ;-)

> tactics to harm their competitors, the long term answer isn't to seek
> government interference. That may be a necessary step, but it doesn't create
> a long term solution. The long term solution is to come up with *better*
> products and market them successfully. Microsoft can't stop you from
> producing a *better* office suite or OS and making it available to the
> consumer. You have to figure out what "better" means to the consumer and try
> to deliver it. Doing so means the consumer wins.

No, I never said anything about the government interfering, unless there
is illegal things happening. What I point out is that the utopic goal of
any firm in the market is world domination. Usually there are several
competing firms so there is a competition. But in the cases where there
isn't, the market has problems. The market will not make sure that the
product of best quality wins.

But a challange: Make a better Outlook which protects against viruses
and try to make money on it.

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