[drewmate]

I'm maybe not that experienced, but I do think that FB/Google are fundamentally different. Microsoft and IBM's 'products' depreciated very quickly. 5-year old software just isn't worth as much as brand new software (especially during that era.) Data, on the other hand, is like a wine that just gets better with age. FB's info about you only gets more valuable the longer they keep getting it. As long as FB/Google have active users, the moats around their businesses will likely seem impenetrable.

[username223]

People age and die, though. I doubt FB will implode like MySpace, but oldsters like me, who got tangled up in its webs back when it was only open to ".edu" addresses, will die off. Then FB will have lots of data on corpses, which can no longer click on ads. It can frantically copy rivals for awhile, but once the first generation of kids stops bothering to sign up, it's on its way to the nursing home.