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by agloe_dreams 1099 days ago
Your example is weird and bad. Let me give you a better one.

Imagine buying a washing machine but it will only wash clothes made by Old Navy, you cannot buy any other brand of clothing. Additionally, the local bars and restaurants, only allow you to enter if you are wearing Old Navy as that is in the contract of actually wearing the shirt. Your friends can only talk to you in a group if you are wearing Old Navy. Otherwise they must talk to you 1 by 1. Finally, Old Navy Clothes cannot be used in any other brand of washing machines as they will not 'wash', they are incompatible.

Because of this, everyone you know wears Old Navy. If you want to get a bite to eat with them, you must own this washing machine. Because everyone is locked into Old Navy clothes, Old Navy gets a cut from the restaurants and your prices go up.

This is how weird the software market actually is.