[mooreds]

> I think the best products do tend to win.

Ah, you optimist, you! :)

I think that if you expand the definition of product to include sales and marketing, the answer is yes.

But if you don't, the world is littered with great products that lost to better competition: betamax to vhs, apple to windows.

Though I can't think of any modern examples, so maybe the world has changed.

[abakker]

information dissemination with the internet is drastically better than when MacOS lost to Windows, or when Betamax lost to VHS. Nowhere is this more apparent than in cars, where manufacturers are held accountable by numbers, reviews, and even interior design decisions that might have been ignored 20 years ago when a magazine wouldn't spend the pages to complain in detail about why you shouldn't have highly reflective chrome trim on the dashboard.

I think good, differentiated products have a better chance now than ever, but the differentiation is where things fall flat. Barriers to entry are lower across the board, but having differentiation is the key to funding/pipeline, which is the key to scaling.

[character0]

I generally agree with this, but it really depends on the consumer not being lazy. We all have the friend that scours the forums, but 10x more friends that just buy the highest rated item on Amazon.

[abakker]

Even the ratings on Amazon are more than a single article/ad in reader's digest, or just hearing about it from a friend.