After asking my mom earlier in the day to ship me my “Alexa” from my house, our opening discussion about Microsoft and Amazon partnering in regards to Cortana and Alexa hit home. The partnership struck me as unusual, but when we discussed the two companies a little more, I realized that they are not really fighting forces. Microsoft and Amazon are both large, successful companies, but they have different strengths and selling points. By coming together, I assume an influx of press for both companies which will probably lead to a positive increase in sales. In the end, both companies will hopefully end the partnership with a strengthened product: virtual assistance.
This partnership sparked my curiosity in other unusual company partnerships and why they don’t happen more often. I understand that companies have to compete in order to stay profitable, but in a theoretical world, it seems like companies that work together on similar products would reach conclusions faster and create better products. I assume that there are also benefits to companies not working together such as an increase in product diversity. However, this reminds me of part of our discussion about the beginning of the Internet with ARPA. We talked about how since no one knew the best way to create this network, many languages were created that are currently dead or ineffective. But we also discussed how programming languages are like tools: you don’t want to use the same tool for every job. This shows me that there are strong pros and cons to any partnership.
Another part of our discussion that interested me especially in today’s age of carefully curated media profiles is the topic of security. When the creators began work on the shared network, the topic of security was of little concern because they had no way to know that a majority of the world would end up with access to the Internet. Security is an extremely prevelant problem in our world today. When we talked about quantum computing, the topic of security was still in my head. I wonder if the developers will see security as a bigger concern as they continue to develop quantum computing.
I look forward to our next session.
Sarah–
A nice first post. The question of how companies can both compete and cooperate is an interesting one. Too much cooperation can lead to charges of anti-trust collusion, and can stifle choice for the customer. Too little and the customer is often put in a situation where they must choose knowing that one or the other company may abandon them at some point.
We will talk a lot more about security. While the early ARPAnet may not have been concerned with security, those designing the early Internet (as we know it today) actually did think about it, and decided that it shouldn’t be in the network. We will see why in the readings in a couple of weeks. So hold that thought; there is more to see.
Thanks for a great starting post,
Jim