
Regression and extraction - masnick
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3325-regression-and-extraction
======
endlessvoid94
All valid points.

I do suspect, though, that "the ones who came before" noticed this years ago.
Things are worse (re: patents and app stores), but the idea of the industry
slowly taking a turn for the worst while nobody notices are not new concerns.

I'd love to hear someone who's been programming for 40 years comment on this.
I don't even know who to ask...

~~~
DanBC
I'd love to hear from someone who's been programming for 40 years too.

Until then, here's a jpg (<http://i53.tinypic.com/2janfrd.jpg>)

> _"This is the computer industry as it used to be: people sharing ideas and
> solutions without the greed and grit with associated with today's corporate
> driven, litigation-laced, industry"_

(Second column, near the bottom)

That was written over 20 years ago.

~~~
ceejayoz
I love that Compuserve is $11.75 an HOUR, and the description of online
chatting as a "CB Simulator".

~~~
endlessvoid94
I would pay for a way to use my iphone as a CB while on the road. I had a CB
in college and it was really great to have while on road trips.

I'd love to be able to open an app on my phone and ask the nearest semi driver
what the traffic deal is, or where the "bears in the caves taking pictures"
are ;-)

------
jivatmanx
In addition, a larger and larger portion of a nation's GDP is now taken up by
the financial industry which has gone from primarily allocating capital to
businesses, to primarily using high frequency, algorithmic, and derivatives-
based trading to extract wealth from the economy.

The other of the U.S.'s greatest problems, healthcare, has more to do with
entrenched interests and inertia of doctor education and salaries, and a
middleman-based payment system preventing the formation of a actual,
competitive market (except for, for example, lasik, one of the few procedures
that's gotten both cheaper and better over time).

Patents, too, are inertia, political leaders having a record number of years
in incumbency, settling into staleness and nobody willing to make bold
changes, think them up, or even listen to people who have.

------
chipsy
The longest-lasting businesses in history are small to mid-sized - at most a
few hundred employees - and they are (unsurprisingly) all in timeless, age-old
industries. ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies> ) The
huge British East Indias of the world become entangled with government and
rise and fall at the whims of politics.

This makes me believe there's some kind of definable relationship between
money extracted, business size, business lifecycle, and benefit to society. A
startup with ambitions of being very big, profitable and influential is
declaring that it wants to lead civilization in a certain way. But if it
achieves size and profit by simply decreasing benefits and increasing
extraction, it's actually a corrupting force; post-hoc charity can't change
that.

And in technology, every wave of new possibilities pulls a few corruptors
along for the ride, in part because we don't always know at the outset whether
they're ultimately a good or bad force. As well, the really long-term
influences often appear to lie dormant for a long time... ideas from academia
take forever to be used in industry, and broad demographic changes in usage
can take a decade.

------
crusso
I agree with David's general thesis and the items on the list except for the
App Stores.

Naturally government-oriented influences like the patent system and
regulations are monopolistic. Net neutrality is monopolistic because the
backbone infrastructure is in the hands of a relative few number of
infrastructure owners. Often, where you live determines the connection to your
house and that's a monopoly often enforced by municipal contracts.

App Stores are the only item on his list that are not quite monopolistic in
nature. As such, new competitors can come along at any time to unseat App
Stores that are failing to provide enough value to consumers.

~~~
benatkin
Yes, that's the black and white market vs government worldview. The App Store
thing turns this black and white thinking on its head. It is oligopolistic
from a practical standpoint, for people making and distributing of mobile
applications.

~~~
crusso
Is my worldview artificial or somehow contrived? If I REALLY don't like my
phone's app store, I can switch phones. If I don't like my government's
policies, I have to move to a new country.

Don't pay Apple and you don't get an iPhone. Don't pay the Govt and you go to
jail. Jailbreak an iPhone, breaking Apple's terms and conditions and they
won't service your phone. Break the Patriot Act's Gag Rules and you're
squirreled away to PMITA prison.

If Apple makes stupid decision after stupid decision, they lose their
dominance. If they are too reckless with their finances, they lose their
business and possibly go to Jail. If Govt is reckless with its finances it
just points at corporate scapegoats and raises taxes. No one goes to jail and
this last election shows that no one will even be held accountable by the
mostly ignorant voting public.

It's not like I'm making up the basis of this worldview out of thin air. Have
you seen what's happening in Southern Europe? Turn on world news (from
networks outside of the USA), open a browser, wake up...

------
hokua
Before he listed the threats, I immediately thought "App stores" due to my
recent debacle with Apple. Bam, there it was listed. Great article.

------
001sky
_Net neutrality: Imagine if you had to enter separate agreements with every
ISP in the world to get full-speed access to all your potential customers.
Only the established elite would be able to navigate such shark-infested
waters._

\-- sounds like FB promoted posts?

