Hi Michael
Didier said:
> > If the last three market segments are limited to a few
> > thousand or less than
> > 100 000, then its obvious that the architecture promoted by
> > the java and
> > Microsoft world leads the world. They create the mainstream trends.
Michael replied:
> No, the numbers game tells you who the followers are, not who the leaders
> are. There are always more followers than leaders.
Didier replies:
It depends on the perspective you are taking. If you mean that people using
Java or Microsoft tools are followers, then you are right (based on this
logic). I do not understand why you say "no" to the above statement since it
simply means that the type of architecture (the subject) promoted by the
Microsoft and Java world (complement) leads (the verb associated to the
subject: the architecture) the world. Said differently, the architecture
preferred by the many outweighs the one preferred by the few. Maybe I didn't
expressed my idea very well and you got confused by the word "promoted". I
meant here that, within the market place, when a product cross the chasm,
people base their buying decision on the product used by others. The
numbers, in that sense, reflect the acceptance a product (an architecture)
receives from the market place. The numbers provides a "promotion" effect to
the product/architecture. Example of that statement: Windows vs. OS2 ,
Apache vs. IIS. This is a phenomenon Regis McKenna [1] calls the word or
mouth effect, other have called that the network effect. In fact a whole
sector of economics is about this topic (network economics). It basically
state that the more people are using a particular product, the more this
product will sell. This is also known in sociology or in behavioral finance
as the herd effect. I hope, this time I was more clear. Sorry for having
badly expressed my mind.
Cheers
Didier PH Martin
[1] Relationship Marketing (successful Strategies for the Age of the
Customer). Regis McKenna.
