A person could make a good argument that Microsoft's dominance by the early 1990's was such that it had largely become impossible for most other companies to monetize software through licensing revenue. The browser wars with Netscape led many young entrepreneurs in silicon valley to think really hard about ways to monetize software that didn't involve directly charging end-users. The ad-based alternative to software licensing has been very lucrative for the ad serving companies themselves, but the human effects are beginning to smart. Legislators, especially at the federal level, are either too stupid or too bought to do anything particularly effective toward restraining tech abuses where user data is concerned.
I enjoy, immensely, these informative walks through decades offering perspective on how people who enabled and executed the technological advances thought about the future with them and how the presence unfolded … it is like reading fairytales with bad endings, yet there is still hope locked up at the bottom of Pandora’s box. For the whole glory of virtue consists in action. It seems we hope that someone or something will “save” us from what our collective ultimate fear - the fear of death. I am often amazed why people keep talking about wanting to live longer or forever - when they can’t live well in the presence. So they seek fame to preserve their memory, but really it all boils down to not wanting to be unimportant - quite boring. We are all scared of death but most of us - evaluate our situation so that the one defensive mechanism is to make ourselves important enough to be remembered … This motivation is hollow at best, and toxic and parasitic at worst. I think this collective evaluation of our human condition (birth, life, death) is the root cause of our non-humanistic results of our collective actions.
Thanks Keith on the Microsoft angle. It's easy to forget how dominant they were, and they defined the rules of the game for decades.
A person could make a good argument that Microsoft's dominance by the early 1990's was such that it had largely become impossible for most other companies to monetize software through licensing revenue. The browser wars with Netscape led many young entrepreneurs in silicon valley to think really hard about ways to monetize software that didn't involve directly charging end-users. The ad-based alternative to software licensing has been very lucrative for the ad serving companies themselves, but the human effects are beginning to smart. Legislators, especially at the federal level, are either too stupid or too bought to do anything particularly effective toward restraining tech abuses where user data is concerned.
Thanks for this interesting post.
I enjoy, immensely, these informative walks through decades offering perspective on how people who enabled and executed the technological advances thought about the future with them and how the presence unfolded … it is like reading fairytales with bad endings, yet there is still hope locked up at the bottom of Pandora’s box. For the whole glory of virtue consists in action. It seems we hope that someone or something will “save” us from what our collective ultimate fear - the fear of death. I am often amazed why people keep talking about wanting to live longer or forever - when they can’t live well in the presence. So they seek fame to preserve their memory, but really it all boils down to not wanting to be unimportant - quite boring. We are all scared of death but most of us - evaluate our situation so that the one defensive mechanism is to make ourselves important enough to be remembered … This motivation is hollow at best, and toxic and parasitic at worst. I think this collective evaluation of our human condition (birth, life, death) is the root cause of our non-humanistic results of our collective actions.
Thanks for the comment Jana! Lots to consider here. I suppose I'll just add for now that I'm broadly in sympathy.
All my best,
Erik