How do we solve this problem? In other industries based on physical products there is a big incentive to buy goods as locally as possible because of reduced shipping costs, shorter shipping time, no import taxes etc.
But with software it costs nothing to spin up new instances, costs nothing to deliver half way across the world, and has no delivery time. How can you convince a manager to use a software solution provided by a local company when a company in a completely different country 600 miles away offers similar software with 5 extra features?
It seems like the internet is now perfectly set up to create, for each software type, a single company that has a global monopoly.
That's OK in principle, as long as those companies function like governments (i.e. they work to improve things rather than turn a profit, subject to constitutions, public voting, judicial review). As engineers we should embrace the efficiency of scale, but it's quite clear that it can't work under capitalism.
But with software it costs nothing to spin up new instances, costs nothing to deliver half way across the world, and has no delivery time. How can you convince a manager to use a software solution provided by a local company when a company in a completely different country 600 miles away offers similar software with 5 extra features?
It seems like the internet is now perfectly set up to create, for each software type, a single company that has a global monopoly.