[Ironchefpython]

> The only sectors of the economy where significant, lasting shortages occur are the ones most heavily regulated.

So you're saying that Petroleum Exporting Countries would never say... create an Organization intended to increase the price of oil?

Or the DeBeers wouldn't collude with diamond producers to limit the availability of diamonds to increase the price?

Or that manufacturers and distributors of light bulbs, lysine, copper, cleaning powder, vitamins, glass, milk and machinery would never, ever engage in price fixing?

I want to live on your planet, where capitalism is so nice and perfect that companies rush to give away all their profit by competing the marginal cost down to zero without any of those pesky regulations.

[icebraining]

So you're saying that Petroleum Exporting Countries would never say... create an Organization intended to increase the price of oil?

How does that help your case? The members of that organization are governments, not companies. OPEC is regulation.

[jaekwon]

I'm curious why people are downvoting this.

[WalterBright]

In the software business, with pretty much zero regulations, competition has run the price literally to $0 for broad swaths of products.

[Ironchefpython]

> In the software business, with pretty much zero regulations, competition has run the price literally to $0 for broad swaths of products.

That's like saying that price competition is alive and well because banks will give you a free toaster when they charge fees to loan your money back to you.

But to address the specifics of the software industry, software is a complementary good.

This has been the driving force in the price of software for decades: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html

And it's true today. The biggest contributor to Linux is... Intel. Because it sells hardware. Google gives you a free browser so it can sell ad space.

[WalterBright]

I know many software companies with essentially a single product, which they give away. They make money selling service contracts, which enough customers buy to make it worthwhile.

The price is still $0 and there are still no regulations on it.

Most (all?) commercial products have complementary products. This is hardly unique to software. I seriously doubt the theory that medical products have no complementary sales.