[CM30]

I have to admit, I've always been a bit skeptical of the 'market value' part of this sort of argument. Seems like the same logic behind journalists complaining that bloggers are taking their market, or professional photographers annoyed that sites like Flickr mean people can get pro quality photographs for free or little money. Or complaints that open source is eating the market by commercial software developers.

I can understand these sorts of complaints, since stuff like outsourcing has put a lot of people out of work. But then couldn't you argue that people in countries with lower costs of living are affecting the salary of those in places which cost more? If company A is based in say, China and hires their programmers at a reasonable living wage for Beijing and company B is based in say, Silicon Valley and offers a living wage there, company A can release cheaper software for obvious reasons. If most companies in the US decide to use company A's software, are they affecting the salary of US programmers as an indirect result?

Seems like to some degree, you can make the same complaint about everything from Uber esque crowdsharing services to globalisation to hobbyist projects.