On Thursday, April 23, 2015 at 11:42:58 AM UTC-4, Stephen Sprunk wrote:   
       
   > No, it isn't.  There are many examples of one vendor being first to   
   > market and getting stomped by later entrants, particularly if the later   
   > entrants join together to create an open standard and thus get better   
   > economy of scale.   
      
   Another example would be Western Union and the Bell System over data   
   transmission.  Western Union handled it first, but Bell came along and took   
   over.  Economies of scale definitely helped the Bell System.   
      
   As an aside, Western Union also foresaw the functionality of the internet in   
   what it called the National Information Utility.  They foresaw terminals in   
   every home and business and interconnected computers.  They even worked with   
   ARPA.  But they still    
   missed the boat.   
      
   "A  national information utility, which will make it possible for large and   
   small users of every kind, everywhere, to fill their total needs for   
   information systems and services on the most efficient, economical basis   
   possible.   
      
   "The national information utility we envision would serve business and   
   industry, government agencies and others through an ultra-modern system which   
   will gather, store, process, retrieve and distribute all kinds of data,   
   through a series of    
   interconnected computers, over broadband facilities of the kind Western Union   
   has already put into service in our new coast-to-coast microwave network."   
      
   --Walter P. Marshall, Chairman, Western Union, 1965.   
      
   --- SoupGate/W32 v1.03   
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