jr conlin's ink stained banana

i'm getting kinda tired of the whole "there can only be one!" thing.

For those of you not deeply involved in the tech industry, there's a ever present theme one encounters where unless you are the uncontested ruler of a given sector, you're viewed as "Struggling". It doesn't matter what sort of money you make, how well you do, or even how popular you actually are, you're simply unfit because someone else is doing better than you. It's a bit like shooting all the non-lead sled dogs because they, obviously, couldn't keep up.

Thing is, i have no idea where the hell this sort of thinking came from. Mostly because the very same folks who decry the non-leaders as being "weak failures" are the exact same folks who "have serious fears about monopolies". Excuse me? Look, you get it one way or the other. Either you have competition and choice or you don't.

Hell, there's lots of things that are number one that i don't like. Starbucks, for instance. i think i've bought maybe two items from a Starbucks, wasn't thrilled with either and decided to try the competition. i don't begrudge Starbucks being the market leader nor do i feel that my choices in the market are threatened. i'm happy if they get enough business to continue operations, and make some profit from the deal. i could care less if they expanded into diversified whole grain distributions or started selling pineapple themed novelties because those aren't items i'm interested in purchasing from them. When i go into a coffee shop, i'm interested in getting a nice cup of well brewed tea and a chance to relax for a few minutes. Heck, sometimes i'll skip the second half of that and just have a nice cup of tea.

Somewhere along the line (perhaps a relic from the Greed is Good 80's) some idiots got it into their head that companies need to rule the planet. No, actually, they don't. They simply need to provide a service. i'll invest in a company that does that and continue to invest so long as i feel they provide valuable services to myself or the community they serve. i don't really care if they triple my investment in the sort term by introducing new Happy Baby flavored pacifiers made with real opium because that's not why i thought they were worth investing in to begin with. i did it because they let me watch movies at home. If i want insane profits, i'll drill for oil.

*sigh*

i miss the days when folks liked different things.