"Perhaps the single most dramatic example of this phenomenon of software eating a traditional business is the suicide of Borders and corresponding rise of Amazon"
- Marc Andreessen
About this Quote
Marc Andreessen's quote is a reference to the rise of Amazon and the corresponding decline of Borders, a big bookstore chain. This is an example of how software application can interfere with standard services. Borders was not able to compete with Amazon's online existence and eventually declared bankruptcy. Amazon, on the other hand, had the ability to take advantage of its software capabilities to offer consumers a wide choice of books, competitive rates, and practical shipment alternatives. This enabled Amazon to rapidly become the dominant player in the bookselling industry. The dramatic shift in the market share of these 2 companies is a testament to the power of software application and how it can disrupt conventional businesses.
"Raising children is an incredibly hard and risky business in which no cumulative wisdom is gained: each generation repeats the mistakes the previous one made"
"Architects are pretty much high-class whores. We can turn down projects the way they can turn down some clients, but we've both got to say yes to someone if we want to stay in business"
