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.

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