And once upon a time there were more than three PC graphics card makers. The paranoid schizo US really fucked up scientific and technological progress.
There also were more than two PC platforms (and we barely have two now; Apple was pretty close to going away too). I miss being the Atari ST guy in a circle of people who all had different types of computers. It didn’t last very long but it was way more fun.
They rose to the top because they were the only country that could still build things after the rest of the world got flattened in World War II. Then the rest of the world rebuilt itself so the only asset the US had left was economic inertia. They then proceeded to spend decades doing everything they could to increase the value of that inertia by using their influence to encourage policies that resulted the rich getting richer.
And now it’s over, well it might take a decade or so but Europe is rebuilt and the USA is shitting its pants(not because they’re scared, just because it seems).
And when the Eastern Bloc dissolved, government owned corporations got sold off to western ones, for pennies, all to be shut down in a few weeks. If not, usually they got boycotted, because the kids finally could buy western brands, which made you look cool among your peers.
And once upon a time there were more than three PC graphics card makers. The paranoid schizo US really fucked up scientific and technological progress.
There also were more than two PC platforms (and we barely have two now; Apple was pretty close to going away too). I miss being the Atari ST guy in a circle of people who all had different types of computers. It didn’t last very long but it was way more fun.
They rose to the top because they were the only country that could still build things after the rest of the world got flattened in World War II. Then the rest of the world rebuilt itself so the only asset the US had left was economic inertia. They then proceeded to spend decades doing everything they could to increase the value of that inertia by using their influence to encourage policies that resulted the rich getting richer.
And now it’s over, well it might take a decade or so but Europe is rebuilt and the USA is shitting its pants(not because they’re scared, just because it seems).
And when the Eastern Bloc dissolved, government owned corporations got sold off to western ones, for pennies, all to be shut down in a few weeks. If not, usually they got boycotted, because the kids finally could buy western brands, which made you look cool among your peers.