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American tech giants are making life tough for startups

economist.com

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Re: American tech giants are making life tough for startups

#161

Post by pythonovice »

isolli wrote: post #83

This article makes the case for government intervention [0]. The central thesis is that, had Microsoft not been sued for antitrust in the 90s and wary of yet another lawsuit, they would have killed Google in its infancy. Apparently anonymous sources in both companies confirmed this would have been a distinct possibility. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/magazine/the-case-against...

Scott Galloway explained this point perfectly in his talk at Ignition 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ebKI4x_k8A. It's time to break up the big tech companies to allow competition (and capitalism) to flourish.

Re: American tech giants are making life tough for startups

#162

Post by st1ck »

pravinva wrote: post #84

This is not anti competitive behaviour. In fact, this IS competition. Competition means all sorts of actions that lead to me having more customers than you. The only problem is when the entrenched business use govt/lobbying/abusive patent law to get this done. Buying out competition and trying to enter a low barrier to entry business is the very definition of competition. Suck it up

This. If there has to be a regulation, I'd require companies to give more freedom to users, e.g. to choose default search engine, install alternative app stores, allow access to public data without account (e.g. LinkedIn) etc.

Re: American tech giants are making life tough for startups

#163

Post by nine_k »

kilbuz wrote: post #121
SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet us tech workers are some of the highest paid people in the world, and technological progress is advancing at a rate never before seen in human history. I guess the current system isn't so bad.

This is nowhere near the fastest technology has progressed in history.

Yes, you need an all-out mobilization of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War to move even faster. Not in the consumer segment, though.

Re: American tech giants are making life tough for startups

#164

Post by nine_k »

craftyguy wrote: post #44
reificator wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we're so righteous we won't take Pentagon contacts. I think you mean "won't renew". They already took them.

Yea, joke is on us, because they'll still develop the thing they told the pentagon they would develop, all while appearing to be 'good guys' to people (which is apparently quite a few people) who don't understand how contracts work.

I don't see why working on your country's DoD contract is for "bad guys".

Remember the guys building ARPANet for, well, the military's Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Re: American tech giants are making life tough for startups

#165

Post by walshemj »

dijit wrote: post #133
walshemj wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A1 was the specialised version of a mech ENG BTECH aimed at the pump, turbine, hydrodynamic and aerospace industries it did cover all 5 levels up to the equivalent of a HND aka first two years of Uni. All but one of us worked at the bleeding edge in research for the scientific civil service or in related civilian organisations based at Cranfield. I did do a spec pitch a few years ago to a small engineering company RB…

Sorry, I'm looking everywhere and I can't find any evidence to support your claim. BTEC A1 is introductory level from all sources I can find. https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/pearson... https://university.which.co.uk/advice/a-level-choices/what-a...

As I explained A1 is the Version of the course that went from level 2 - 5

Re: American tech giants are making life tough for startups

#166

Post by inteleng »

mythrwy wrote: post #64
adventured wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And housing is even more expensive in San Francisco than in Seattle, general cost of living is a bit higher, and CA has income taxes, adjust the figures accordingly. The $1.3m house in Seattle will cost you $2m in SF. Now you need $500,000 for a down payment. Your mortgage + taxes will cost you $110,000 per year, out of your $158,000 take home on a $250,000 income. You'll burn $3.8 million over 30 years on the equiva…

But at this rate in 30 years that modest middle class house will be worth 2.6 billion dollars! (kidding. I think).

As is apparent here, most (software) engineers can only understand things as linear models.
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