--On Tuesday, 28 October, 2008 08:02 -0700 "Hallam-Baker,
Phillip" <pbaker(_at_)verisign(_dot_)com> wrote:
...
It is also a neat rebuttal to the claim that network effects
do not exist - as Margolis and co claimed in their laughable
tract. If the issue were decided on technical grounds alone
the US and Europe would have chosen the same base years ago.
The US has not moved to the superior Swan mount because the
short term switching costs outweigh the long term advantages.
Change is only possible when a technology disruption occurs
that negates the advantage of the legacy base. In the case of
lightbulbs it is compact flourescents and LED bulbs, in the
case of keyboards it would probably take really good
handwriting recognition.
One could, of course, make many of the same observations about
replacing SMTP and/or today's Internet mail formats with some
newly-invented and improved system, replacing HTTP with
something more elegantly designed based on what we know about
computer systems today, etc., as well as failure to harmonize
residential supply voltages around the world. Whether the
problem is one of network effects or the related one of the
costs of replacing/ converting a large installed base, the
consequences are the same: mere incremental technical
superiority is almost never sufficient to motivate an
incompatible change.
john
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