Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by fauigerzigerk 950 days ago
Yes, demand grows as prices drop. I don't doubt this general principle for a second. But the question is about degrees. If the cost of making software at today's level of quality and quantity drops by half, what share of the savings is going to be spent on more and better software, what share is going to be spent on other things and what share will be used to cut prices?

I think there is no general answer to this question. What would Netflix do if software development costs dropped by half? Develop twice as much software? Spend it on more content? Cut the price of subscriptions? In this specific case, my bet would be on content.

1 comments

To me software _is_ content because it's tied to attention and consumption. There will always be humans producing it and consuming it, it isn't a limited resource that goes away once a tool comes along to make it easier to produce. If the costs halve, then more is produced.