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207 points LorenDB | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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ToucanLoucan ◴[] No.41841208[source]
Unregulated markets trend towards brand lock-ins, proprietary parts, cheaper goods of inferior quality, etc. etc. etc. All businesses are doing this everywhere because we are running out of World for them to expand into, but any company that posts a less profitable quarter is presumed to be failing.

For centuries companies have chased the fantasy of infinite growth, and we're running out of room. If we don't start contending with this in a serious way, and applying changes to our society to accommodate it, we will only ever see more of this.

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nickff ◴[] No.41841383[source]
There are lots of counter-examples to this, such as the market for microprocessors. Huge market, few regulations, excellent quality, remarkably low switching costs.
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ToucanLoucan ◴[] No.41841426[source]
"Huge" market? AMD and Intel. Technically Apple but they don't sell to OEM's, and of course bespoke processors for specific applications.

It's huge in that it does a lot of business, but the market itself is incredibly small. If you want a processor for your next PC build, you have 2 flavors to pick from. Or a Mac.

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nickff ◴[] No.41843176[source]
You're ignoring all the non-desktop/laptop processors.
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ToucanLoucan ◴[] No.41843257{3}[source]
That's true! So Qualcomm. Four whole firms, clearly invalidating my point.
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1. nickff ◴[] No.41844347{4}[source]
ST Micro, Microchip, Texas Instruments, NXP, etc.