I Love That You Have To Pay Money For Opera

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LSR and Red Man's Revenge commented on me saying this:

"at the end of the day, Opera needs to make money and compete to make money - and I can't think of a better incentive for people to get things right, or make things right"

My response, as it was previously, is this:

"Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."

"By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good."

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations.

Also, if you would be so kind, please explore the link in my initial quote above, that links to this post: UnEconomic. Which was preceded by Opera Needs to Step Up.

Once you've done that, you can get over your hippie-dippie tie-died existences and realise that capitalism is not a bad thing - and even if you dislike it, there are ways in which it can be more useful to your ends than the equivalent of throwing your money off a bridge. Like saving the environmental movement perhaps, or maybe even the environment.

If you're unhappy with Microsoft about Internet Explorer, you should feel free to say so. Some times markets fail. Some times a single enterprise monopolises an economic space to the extent where competition is stifled. Economics is not unaware, or unwilling to admit, its own faults. "When the facts change, I change my mind, would you that it were otherwise?" But in the long run, when markets are left unhindered by stifling legislation (as opposed to careful regulation) things tend to sort themselves out - as is happening now.

Sure Opera and its employees are likely to be driven people who believe in what they are doing. That doesn't mean they'd be doing what the do as well as they do if they weren't being paid to do it. Do you really think Opera would be as prevalent on mobile devices if they hadn't decided that it was an area where there was un-tapped profit, and that they should put as much effort as they did into exploiting it? If they didn't we'd still be twiddling our thumbs (literally), waiting for MiniMo - whereever that is.

Oh, and I found the link I was looking for in UnEconomic - to explain my comment about the parasitic. From the Economist (where else) - Open source: Beyond capitalism?



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This page contains a single entry by subtitles published on April 25, 2005 2:09 PM.

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