[pjc50]

One of these is a capital-intensive industry that extracts finite resources from the particular areas of the earth that happen to have them. The resource is consumed on a continuous basis.

The other is entirely dependent on skilled labour, and once deployed continues to deliver value.

Software is much more like real estate: the first entrants erect a patent barrier around the best bits and use it to charge rent to everyone that clusters around the core. It's subject to gearing-driven bubbles.