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#NetworkEffects

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@BrodieOnLinux @qdot I find this to be the worst way to decide a #TechStack.

  • If #IT was developed and maintained that way, we'd not have #Linux or even #Windows, most likely not even #CPM & #UNIX because "everyone uses punchcards and tubes, so stop complaining!"...

#NetworkEffects are #toxic when it comes to #SaaS and #proprietary shite, regardless if the bad guys are #discord, #Autodesk, #Adobe, #Apple or #Microsoft for that matter. (Don't even get me started on #SAP & #Oracle!)…

  • I just don't vibe with that appeal and would rather #SelfHost than compromise. If that makes me an outlyer then I'm happy to pay that price!

infosec.space/@kkarhan/1146231

But if I was wrong, I 'd not be called upon as a Linux #Sysadmin and to act as "#BenevolentDictator" in terms of Tech Stack Decisions...

Infosec.SpaceKevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)@MxVerda@lgbtqia.space @BrodieOnLinux@mstdn.social @qdot@buttplug.engineer Well, depending on what you want to develop or communicate there are various options. - Many folks went from #GitHub to @Codeberg@social.anoxinon.de / #Codeberg to do their #FLOSS development as it too has #IssueTrackers and means to discuss things without #loginwalled read-only access. Others like @torproject@mastodon.social have their own @gitlab@mastodon.social / #GitLab servers #SelfHosted. - If you want a #Chat then consider #LiberaChat if you don't demand #privacy. Otherwise @delta@chaos.social / #deltaChat and/or #XMPP via @monocles@monocles.social & @gajim@fosstodon.org may be an option. - If you do want some #LoginWalling for some reason, consider @zulip@fosstodon.org / #ZulipChat as it has a nice #threading model that can handle both asynchronous communication and high traffic without becoming unfindable or unarchiveable. Otherwise there's like @RocketChat@fosstodon.org / #RocketChat which also works great by my own experience. Case in point: #discord just makes it more cumbersome and painful than anything. It's basically *#Slack + #MicrosoftTeams, but worse*…

Microsoft Windows+Office for $55?

What happened?

Usually cheap MSFT license offers are a sign of Linux gains somewhere but I'm not seeing it this time

LibreOffice for Steam OS is taking off?

They're selling at a loss because it makes you train their "AI"?

There's some market share number they need to tweak upward to keep some stock analyst happy?

mashable.com/deals/january-24- #networkEffects

Mashable · $55 for a lifetime license to Microsoft OfficeBy Sponsored by StackCommerce
Continued thread

#NetworkEffects are a very real thing. But I think what folks fail to realize (or just don't think about) is they are rarely organic. So few things happen on their own.

"But they don't have a creator fund!" Yeah, not for you, maybe.

I distinctly remember being excited when NPR suddenly showed up on Twitter with lots of brand accounts. I later learned they were paid to create content there.

I'm talking with a colleague who gave the usual reasons for staying on #X / #Twitter while I gave the usual reasons for moving to #Mastodon.

I found myself making this argument too: I want #SocialMedia to live on #OpenInfrastructure, just as I want research to live on open infrastructure. #NetworkEffects might have made "starting over" on open infra impossible, and even now make it very difficult. But #Musk's odious changes are making it slightly easier and we should take advantage of that."

COLLECTIVE-PLATFORM-MIGRATION

#NetworkEffects often organically lock us in. People don't want to move to another platform until their network does

What if regulators mandated dominant platforms have a function allowing users to collectively migrate?
=
to flag that when a certain tipping point (x%) of their network has flagged it is willing to move to platform Y, then they are willing to have their account automatically transferred, together with that of their network, to the new platform

"This article assumes that in order to advance the decarbonisation of fossil-based socio-economic systems it is first necessary to ‘deactivate’ the related fossil machine: to investigate how to do so we propose a new reticular approach. The article adopts this approach to investigate the deactivation of the... fossil machine built around a group of coal plants in Civitavecchia...whose planned conversion to gas was eventually abandoned."

#EnergyPolicy
#NetworkEffects

sciencedirect.com/science/arti

any video conferencing system that needs a "system requirements" page is doomed

(even if 99% of users are on the supported client platforms, a much larger % of meeting organizers will have a broken meeting + wasted time because of a few attendees on unsupported client systems #networkEffects)

why an ad-supported, for-profit social network might want to support federation: they can choose to offer it only in countries or regions where ad revenue/user is greater than moderation cost. Users in countries where ad revenue < moderation costs can use a separate service that federates with the ad-supported one, so those users count for purposes of #networkEffects but not financials

#SocialMedia #NetworkEffects #BigTech #Oligopolies: "Social media needs to burn.

From its first days, the consumer computing and networking sector was synonymous with explosive growth.

Companies would spring up out of nowhere and grow to impossible scale overnight. The source of this rapid corporate gigantism was no mystery: it came from network effects.

A business, product or service enjoys “network effects” when adding more customers increases in value. Every Apple ][+ sold increased the number of people you could exchange data on floppies with; it increased the number of dealers who’d sell you accessories for your new home computer; and it increased the number of software authors and hardware companies who’d fill those dealers’ showrooms with new applications and peripherals for you to use.

Network effects are how Amazon got so big. They’re why platforms with App Stores — from games to mobile OSes — are so exciting for investors. And, of course, they’re why social media platforms exploded onto the scene in the 2000s and took over the world."

doctorow.medium.com/let-the-pl

Medium · Let the Platforms Burn - Cory Doctorow - MediumBy Cory Doctorow
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@cstross

Frankly, I can't see a whole lot of the private instance admins wanting to #federate with #Facebook. Maybe whats-his-name's big one (mastodon.social?).

So I'm guessing Meta would start offering to #pay instances to federate with them, at least at first, until they can get the network effects going.

It'll be interesting to see if it happens, and which admins are susceptible to the #bribe.

Two posts by #Mastodon advocates @atomicpoet and @samlitzinger search for motivations why journalists stay on #twitter.

Anyone who can figure out why authors still sell books on Amazon can figure this out.

No need to psychoanalyze: it's #NetworkEffects, their existing #Audience, automatic recommendations that turn circulating content into new followers, and ease of use.

mastodon.social/@atomicpoet/11
journa.host/@samlitzinger/1101

#BigTech #Capitalism #NetworKEffects #SwitchingCosts #Economics: "While it’s possible in theory for competition to work well even when network effects and switching costs exist, it’s probably best to assume that they are gumming up the works. Paul Klemperer, one of the pioneers of switching-cost models, has argued that antitrust authorities should try to ensure compatibility between rival platforms, reducing switching costs and pushing against the ability of any one company to monopolise a network.

That means maximising interoperability: the ability to send posts to your Facebook friends, and read their posts, even if you’ve decided to leave Facebook and use a different social network; the ability to take your eBooks and audiobooks out of Amazon’s ecosystem (you paid for them, after all); the ability to put any kind of ink in your printer, any kind of razor blade on your handle and any kind of bread in your toaster.

Interoperability cannot be guaranteed by law. There are too many hard cases, too many grey areas, too many legitimate technical obstacles. But regulators can operate with a presumption in favour of interoperability, as they do for switching phone providers or making transfers between banks."

ft.com/content/acaf3fb1-d971-4

www.ft.comThe enshittification of apps is real. But is it bad?Internet platforms are the latest example of a product destined to go to the dogs

"… #antitrust authorities should try to ensure #compatibility between rival platforms, reducing #SwitchingCosts and pushing against the ability of any one company to monopolise a network. …regulators can operate with a presumption in favour of #interoperability, as they do for switching phone providers or making transfers between banks."
ft.com/content/acaf3fb1-d971-4
#enshittification #NetworkEffects

Financial TimesThe enshittification of apps is real. But is it bad?By Tim Harford