February 15, 2008
lock-in
Was reading an article on Bruce Schneier's blog about software lock-in, and found this quote intruiging:
Economists Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian even proved that the value of a software company is the total lock-in. Here's the logic: Assume, for example, that you have 100 people in a company using MS Office at a cost of $500 each. If it cost the company less than $50,000 to switch to Open Office, they would. If it cost the company more than $50,000, Microsoft would increase its prices.
I absolutely despise artificial or intentional lock-in and am attempting to make a software company that tries (actively) to
do as little as possible to lock people in-- nothing, that is, except making the best software possible. Yikes, there is a
long shallow road ahead of us...