I can understand that. In which case the popularization is likely better than the original because it spends proportionately more on the solid argument - that QWERTY didn't win just because it was first - than on the wrong one.
The truth is that there are network effects. But they are more transient than people give them credit for. And they mostly give rise to path dependence when things move fast, or you wind up at somewhere good enough that there is no compelling argument for an alternative.
In the case of technology, things move fast and don't STOP moving fast. And therefore it is possible to ride the tiger from network effects to path dependence, to monopoly. Microsoft's historical success was based on their explicit understanding of this. And exhibit A demonstrating that they did explicitly understand this is http://gunkies.org/wiki/Gordon_Letwin_OS/2_usenet_post. And I, for one, am on the opinion that without the infamous 2003 EU consent decree (you know, the one with big enough teeth that consent decrees were not simply a cost of doing business), Microsoft would still be on top.
So, despite appreciating what they have to say on the history of keyboards, we're likely in broader agreement. Particularly about the behavior of Microsoft in the 1990s.
The truth is that there are network effects. But they are more transient than people give them credit for. And they mostly give rise to path dependence when things move fast, or you wind up at somewhere good enough that there is no compelling argument for an alternative.
In the case of technology, things move fast and don't STOP moving fast. And therefore it is possible to ride the tiger from network effects to path dependence, to monopoly. Microsoft's historical success was based on their explicit understanding of this. And exhibit A demonstrating that they did explicitly understand this is http://gunkies.org/wiki/Gordon_Letwin_OS/2_usenet_post. And I, for one, am on the opinion that without the infamous 2003 EU consent decree (you know, the one with big enough teeth that consent decrees were not simply a cost of doing business), Microsoft would still be on top.
So, despite appreciating what they have to say on the history of keyboards, we're likely in broader agreement. Particularly about the behavior of Microsoft in the 1990s.