Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Daring Fireball: Open and Shut

Daring Fireball thoroughly demolishes a brain-dead essay from a recent issue of The New Yorker.

In the original article, Tim Wu (the author) tries to claim that "openness" (whatever that means) is essential to success. Unless you happen to be Steve Jobs - then you can violate all the rules and be more successful than anyone else. But the rest of the world had better not try to keep any secrets or impose any restrictions on their products.

The DF article shows, on a point-by-point basis, how Wu's article makes no sense, how his examples distort facts and do not present reality, and how his conclusions are not supported even by his own fabricated evidence. The real truth is that great products, released in a timely manner, are what determines success. Being open or closed is pretty much irrelevant. And having a genius in a position of power is beneficial regardless of your corporate culture.

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