"Stupid and easy usually wins" is the approach that seems to scale, but keep in mind that the network effect is a double edged sword. It scales the working parts up but also just as effectively shares all the flaws and vulnerabilities of an 80/20 design.

Closed systems have a history back to cave dwellers when clans formed and lived together for mutual support and mutual defense, but to see something analogous to the current situation, one should look at the middle ages during the plagues when those that could left the cities and formed closed enclaves to save what they could of their own resources. It didn't always work, but when it worked, the local effect was positive.

Who will walk away from 'stupid and easy' and embrace 'smart and reliable'?

I don't think the solution will come from those who embrace the network effect only as a 'positive' but from those who understand the saying, 'as the twig is bent, so grows the tree'.

len

From: David Megginson [mailto:dmeg...@attglobal.net]

Stupid-and-easy usually wins