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Future Makers - Past and Present

Influence
  • Corporations Frequently single large corporations have had dominant market share in key market segments resulting in concentration of power.
  • Standards bodies Standards bodies have attempted with limited success to curb the power of dominant corporations.
  • Government As a purchasor for some of the most advanced technologies Government (especially the military) exercises some influence, and also as funding source for academic research.
  • Academia Academic research is just one source of the technological innovations which drive change in the industry. Often technical excellence from academic sources fails to be adopted by industry.
  • Individuals Some individuals, either as technical innovators or as effective entrepreneurs have had significant influence.
Change
  • Technology Discontinuities
    The information industries have been characterised, since the development of the first general purpose digital computers, but very rapid development in the technologies on which it is based. The technology developments have in many cases been disruptive discontinuities which have resulted in significant shifts in both the market being served and the corporations best equipped to serve those markets.
  • Changing Markets
    To understand the dynamics of power in the industry it is therefore necessary to look at the kinds of discontinuities which have occurred, both in technology and in marketplace, and to see how these discontinuity impact on the distribution and structure of real power in the industry.
  • Information as Mass Market
    We are now entering an era in which information products are so pervasive that they encompass the whole of society and become the dominant part of the consumer economy. In this context the powers which most effectively influence the mass of ordinary people become a more potent force in directing the information industries.
In The BeginningIBM
Garage/Venture StartupsApple, Sun
Standards BodiesISO, BSI...
Industry consortiaOMG, VRML
The Software GiantMicrosoft
Gates
Media MogulsMurdock
Science Fiction AuthorsGibson
Crichton

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