Barriers to entry in the software market are rising faster than in hardware - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: a59d1
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 12:03:49 am
content: https://www.economist.com/business/2018/06/02/american-tech-giants-are-making-life-tough-for-startupsIt's easy for a company like Google or FB to allocate a few (hundred) engineers to clone their competitor's app or website, but it's orders of magnitude slower and more costly to clone or rip off someone in the hardware space. Companies almost never put their hardware designs on Github, whereas many do so with their software and app source code. Where do you see this going in the future?

author: CopperCone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 03:09:42 am
content: soup kitchen

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 03:28:44 am
content: It's okay. Keep calm. GitHub is now under the protection of Microsoft. What could possibly happen?Seriously, though, why would a start-up make its code visible to the public unless it uses open-source code that requires the software is public? It which case, don't use the open-source stuff or use it under a commercial license (like Qt does).I hear Kevin from Shark Tank in my head - "they'll crush you like the cockroach you are". If you enter into a market with goliaths, be prepared to fail especially if you have no intellectual property behind your product.But even in the hardware world, it can happen. A huge company might steal your patented technology knowing full well you don't have the $100Ks to fight in court. They can breach NDAs with impunity if you don't have the money to sue.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 06:25:24 am
content: Hmm, China might disagree that hardware is extremely costly or time consuming to clone or reproduce at a level that's good enough to profit from. They're quite adept at it.

author: a59d1
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 07:02:16 am
content: Quote from: CopperCone on June 09, 2018, 03:09:42 amCould you at least make an effort to say things that are constructive?

author: David Chamberlain
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 07:59:14 am
content: When ever I see a new idea being floated in the tech space I ask myself the same question raised in the article and that is.. could a larger incumbent throw a couple of hundred personal hours at what your doing and replicate it on their platform? if yes then the idea is not original enough and should not be funded. The large players such as Google / Amazon have very mature and well developed platforms and infrastructure so adding a 'feature' to the existing platform is easy. BUT for a start up it is really hard because just in the eCommerce space alone you have to build the site, handle the orders, invoicing, accounting, sales, after-sales support, support ticketing, so on and so on.The Snap example just shows how stupid the internet space gets. I don't care how hard you've worked, if Facebook wanted to give me $3bn in 2013 money there is no way in hell I'm turning that down (not that that's ever going to happen)

author: Synthtech
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 09:11:04 am
content: China has businesses that monitor crowd funding sites and steal ideas. Your product can well be on the market by the time you raise your funds. I saw it with the guys that designed the vacuum cleaner attachment that has lots of small flexible tubes so that you can vacuum the dust out of a drawer full of screws for example. The inventors were asking something like 60 Euro for a pair of them from memory. eBay was soon full of copies for a few dollars.I hear that large companies like Apple often don’t patent their deep tech now, the patent gives away too much information, they are relying on concealment instead.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 05:37:34 pm
content: Quote from: Synthtech on June 09, 2018, 09:11:04 amYes, in fact it's not a new concept. Trade secret is a long-established way to protect intellectual property.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 07:13:12 pm
content: Quote from: a59d1 on June 09, 2018, 12:03:49 amWhether "cloning product" is done or not, "cloning functionality" is certainly something that has been done since the dawn of software. Excel was a functional-clone of Lotus 123. Excel had backdoor APIs to Windows making it more efficient (user-responsive) and eventually killed of Lotus 123.Now with just a few giants left, being a software startup is even more challenging than say 10 years ago. Whatever you do, one of the giants will have the funding to beat you to market or follow quickly even if they only learned of the idea when you are in beta testing. And if they can't follow quick enough, they can "donate" to related research efforts to create a similar but lower functionality public-access free software to diffuse your ability to create a market.In my view, these big guys' presence is killing small guys' ability to compete.More bad news yet. There is more than one barrier to entry: Individual and CommercialAn individual can learn and get good at programming at a relatively low cost. The barrier is low - enough free IDE of all sorts are out there so to get into software, a laptop is all it takes. Whereas, for an individual to get into hardware, it is a good bit harder. Therefore, my supposition is low barrier for software means we will have more competition for the software job market.As individuals, we will be hit on both ends. If we are right that the software market's entry barrier is indeed getting higher, less startups/small-shops translates to reduced job opportunities. Coupled that with higher competition... Finding a decent job is going to be harder.

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 07:53:25 pm
content: The barrier to entry in the "XYZ" market is something that changes over time.One thing is certain, eventually there is a barrier to whatever the "market" is.It started with ranches, the railroad, cattle, oil production.Eventually all but the giants remain.Land.Any "top of the hill" is either owned or rented by some "communications company". If there is a road to it, there is also a gate with a no tresspassing sign on it.As for innovations that made life easier, (no more $1 a minute for international calls; Skype was bought out).Aftermarket car audio. Try replacing the OEM A/C control / navigation/infotainment system with an aftermarket. Good luck. You are stuck with crappy "OEM sound".Try selling a computer for "about the same price" as Dell and make a profit. Not unless you can sell few thousand a month. Good luck."Software" is too generic of a subject. In a way it's like saying "janitor". Everything needs to be kept clean. You can run a "janitorial service" , get a job at a "small company" or a very large one. The job is about the same.

author: hendorog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 08:23:59 pm
content: Quote from: a59d1 on June 09, 2018, 12:03:49 amI think it's easier for them to just buy the competitor. They don't want to expose themselves to too many lawsuits from too much copying.I'm sure they copy some stuff where they have a plan to deal with the consequences, and buy out some stuff as part of a larger strategy.I don't think hardware is hard to copy compared to software. Sometimes it is much easier to copy.Example: Companies who build hardware + software, which are designed to work together. You have to buy their hardware anyway to use the software, but they still feel the need to require a license key before you can use the software. Personally I don't think this is particularly smart, but most of them do this.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2018, 08:51:18 pm
content: Quote from: hendorog on June 09, 2018, 08:23:59 pmYeah, a related method is to buy the competitor, sunset the competing product, and then make or reveal theirs. No "copying."