Economics for Web Junkies
Published on June 8, 2009 / News
The current economic downturn has impacted and depleted countless positions of employment, including web designers and developers. Mainstream media sources and the government often point the finger at capitalism as the culprit and big government regulation as the solution. So let’s look at the US economy as it would exist in the form of web browsers, using Internet Explorer and Firefox as optional economic scenarios.
In an Internet Explorer economy, Microsoft plays the role of the federal government. In offices isolated from the outside world, Internet Explorer is centrally planned and developed. Discussions are kept confidential and production methods are withheld from public knowledge. Updates to Internet Explorer are decided for the people rather than by the people. Want tabbed browsing? You’ll first have to collect thousands of supporting signatures, then wait a few years until that request is possibly voted on by a board of directors (Congress) and approved by a dictator (The President). In the event that Internet Explorer fails as a successful browser, our money will be taken from us, without our consent, and dumped into propping up Microsoft’s failed product.
The alternative option is a Firefox economy, where developers from across the globe are open to improve and expand on an open-source browser. Add-ons are built to simplify our lives and streamline our browsing needs. In this free-market approach to production, additional browsers can release and create healthy competition. Strong browsers (companies) will succeed while weak ones will fail. Instead of throwing our money that we don’t have at those that fail like Netscape, for example, a competent browser like Firefox can take over. This is capitalism running its course.
In a Firefox economy, users gain confidence in the browser with significant benefits and promote its usage. When a user is in need of a new feature, he can search through a library of pre-built add-ons and perform an installation, or build the add-on himself, without waiting for a dictator (The President) to decide what updates (new bills) are best for him.
When a group of central planners (the federal government) regulates and controls the browser (our economy), the updates (solutions) we experience often expand on the problem (a failed system) and, as history reveals to us, result in a prolonged state of failure (a series of crises, recessions, and depressions) that ultimately lead to a collapse. In a stronger sense, an Internet Explorer economy dangerously follows the road to fascism, while a Firefox economy takes the road to freedom and free-market principles. Which road would you take?
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9 Responses to “Economics for Web Junkies”
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[...] Economics for Web Junkies [...]
Well said, my friend.
The President is a dictator? Ouch! :) This is very smart. I like the analogy.
Robert,
Ouch for us! Thanks for reading.
Wow, very well said. I am a definite Firefox fan.
me encanto tu sitio muy explicativo
beautifully change
Fabulous analogy, isn’t is sad that something so simple could be ignored by so many?
Muito bom trabalho.
Continuem assim, vão muito bem!
Desculpem ser em português.
Obrigado.