Re: Why Be an Internet Optimist?

Ryan Radia — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:12:52 -0000

Out of curiosity, what's inferior about WordPress and what do you recommend instead?

Re: Why Be an Internet Optimist?

Tim Lee — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:40:39 -0000

Yeah, i definitely agree that there can be too little central planning as well as too much. However, I do think that once an open platform becomes dominant in a particular market, it's extremely unlikely to get displaced by a closed platform.

Re: Why Be an Internet Optimist?

Stephen Smith — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:39:17 -0000

It is possible that the select few will be motivated enough to free their own iPhone or create tools to detect violations of the end-to-end principle, but I worry that the critical mass will not be reached.

That's the beauty of capitalism – you don't need everyone to be looking for the best deal or even necessarily checking features or price in order for the system to work. If profit margins are relatively low, then you can't afford to lose even the minority of customers who actually look at the price/features of a product. (Supermarkets are good examples of this – I doubt that the majority of consumers check the prices on staple foods like rice, pasta, or salt.) Similarly, even though a majority of TV show-watchers probably watch their TV legally over the airwaves or cable, TV producers can't afford to lose the minority who are going to flock to alluc.org, and so they create alternatives – even though grandma probably wasn't going to watch alluc.org, she might watch hulu.com.

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Re: Why Be an Internet Optimist?

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