And this is true in more than the software world. The furnace in my house has outlived the company that made it. This company made superior furnaces that would outlast their competition by five to ten years, but of course this made their furnaces cost more. Enough consumers bought the lower quality furnaces from other companies (probably thinking, "I won't be living in this house when this new furnace fails in ten years") and few enough consumers bought the higher quality furnaces that this company went out of business.

This makes it difficult for those of us who value quality over price, or who at least consider quality as more important than price alone. We are a minority. This often means that everyone pays more in the long run, because people who optimize for short term cost usually totally neglect to consider the long term cost.

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