GigsVT's Journal: Libertarian Success Story: The PC

The commodity PC is one of the great libertarian success stories of our age. People often concentrate on the technical aspects of what started the PC revolution, but in the end it was the good old invisible hand at work.

The PC revolution never really took off until there was an open platform to build parts for. Interchangable parts are obviously not a new idea, the concept had been around since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Consistantly, companies that have embraced an open standard have found great success with it.

The invisible hand punishes those that produce proprietary products. Even Apple, the counterexample that is no doubt lingering in your mind right now, has seen their marketshare fluctuate nearly in sync with their amount of openness.

Microsoft is an interesting case. They have ridden the coattails of the open hardware revolution, making huge profits in the process. Their current strategy is hurting them, however. MSFT profits are nothing like they used to be, and the stock reflects that.