[Tfug] Cheap Memory

[Claude Rubinson]

On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 07:18:07PM -0700, johngalt1 wrote:
> I'd say that coder was lazy, incompetent, or incredibly
> self-centered. The jist of it is that the coder can crap out
> an un-optimized POS. Then, if the user has a problem running
> the app, their hardware needs upgrading. (they need to pay
> more money to make the app work)
> 
> In economics class they called that an externalized cost
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginal_cost#Negative_externalities_of_production

It's not actually that simple.  The company is going to need to pay
more money to make the app work either way.  Remember: "good, fast,
cheap: pick 2."  It's all a cost/benefit analysis.  Good,
well-designed and coded software costs more money to produce.  There
may be times when it's cheaper to throw hardware at the problem rather
than pay for good software.  If I recall correctly, Google simply
replaces bad servers rather than fixing them because the hardware is
cheaper than the man-power.  I'm not saying that's right or wrong but
it is rational from a cost/benefit analysis.

Externalized costs are only a problem when they're externalized.  That
is to say, party A is able to put its costs onto part B.  That's not
what's happening in the above example.  In the above example, the
company is making a informed, rational choice and all the costs are
internal.  (I'm assuming here that the software was developed in-house
OR that the purchased software lived up to expectations.)  The
conditions that promote negative externalities are things such as weak
gov't regulation (think pollution), monopoly (PC users have no choice
but to upgrade their systems in order to run the latest version of
Windows), deception, etc (basically, what economists refer to as
"market imperfections.")

Claude