Question
I'm curious whether innovation will continue to come from small software businesses, and if people expect this trend to rise or fall in the next 10 years. Will there always be room for new software, or will large companies start to outspend all of the competition, and be able to create everything? Will there still be room for the geek-turned-entrepreneur in 2012, who will be able to start a software company in his basement and end up selling it for a huge sum?
I'm curious whether innovation will continue to come from small software businesses, and if people expect this trend to rise or fall in the next 10 years. Will there always be room for new software, or will large companies start to outspend all of the competition, and be able to create everything? Will there still be room for the geek-turned-entrepreneur in 2012, who will be able to start a software company in his basement and end up selling it for a huge sum?
Answer
Well, there's two sides to this. One side is that the internet is making it easier than ever for a small company to find customers and easily deploy their software. The company does not even need to buy shelf space in a retail store, they can sell the software directly online and just have the end-user download it directly. This is an EXCELLENT business model with low overhead which has already show great promise. Services like Steam are examples of this. However, the flip side to the coin is that all the "easy" programs are already made. DOS is decades old (one of the programs that launched microsoft) and there isn't much of a market for simple programs. As such, bigger companies with larger budgets and more development teams are creating bigger and better software and it is increasingly difficult for an entrepreneur to find a niche.
Well, there's two sides to this. One side is that the internet is making it easier than ever for a small company to find customers and easily deploy their software. The company does not even need to buy shelf space in a retail store, they can sell the software directly online and just have the end-user download it directly. This is an EXCELLENT business model with low overhead which has already show great promise. Services like Steam are examples of this. However, the flip side to the coin is that all the "easy" programs are already made. DOS is decades old (one of the programs that launched microsoft) and there isn't much of a market for simple programs. As such, bigger companies with larger budgets and more development teams are creating bigger and better software and it is increasingly difficult for an entrepreneur to find a niche.
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