Public availability can beat technical superiority in technological contests.

Evidence

The situation was perhaps akin to the triumph of the publicly available IBM PC architecture over rival architectures, especially Apple’s. The architecture of IBM personal computers may well not have been better than Apple’s proprietary architecture, but IBM’s design (like the Black-Scholes-Merton model) was available for others to adopt while Apple’s was not. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 730

Categorization

• XREF: Strong cross-domain parallel connecting financial model diffusion to platform wars — useful for the reader’s broader financialization framework. — connects to: A visible public persona is a requirement for staying employed in the tech scene. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 626; Winning a small influential Silicon Valley audience gives outsized online defense — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 430

Broader Connections

• Winning a small influential Silicon Valley audience gives outsized online defense #exemplifies (0.72) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 430