The Big get bigger, the Small get smaller (1 Viewer)

Jon

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I recently created a thread about how Access World compared to our competitors: https://www.access-programmers.co.u...mpare-to-the-competition.309658/#post-1670957

Afterwards, I started to think about growth ratios and the longer term implications. Now while I might be referring specifically to Access World vs The Competition, perhaps it is a general principle at play.

As it standards, Access World gets roughly double the traffic of the next nearest competitor. For the sake of simplicity, lets assume that this means we get twice as many posts. It may not translate directly like that, but lets just play the game for now. This means that the trajectories of each site are widening. Google loves big sites with lots of content. If AWF keeps chugging along with a lot more traffic, does that mean over time we will become even bigger, get even more traffic and become a monster?

Is it a bit like gravity, where the larger you get, the stronger the pull? Is AWF going to become a black hole? :p

I could be delusional. Is my thinking off? What are your thoughts on this, does this also apply to all entities?
 
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Slap

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Isn't that the whole issue with APIs/Algorithms when applied to popularity? Take BBC News Top 10 articles etc, once in there difficult to replace even though there are many newer articles. Lazy browsers don't look any further... Takes people to think outside the box, something computers aren't especially good at even with all the AI hype..
 

The_Doc_Man

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Jon, you are looking at it all wrong.

The good get better, the chumps get chomped.
 

Jon

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I am trying to make the site as good as possible, so we become that black hole, absorbing everything into it so that you cannot resist its pull.
 

Dreamweaver

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@Jon I agree with @The_Doc_Man this site has always been a good place to collect info and get help with access that's why its lasted 20ish years.
I would make one point which somebody once said too me sometimes you can try to hard..

Miick
 
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Steve R.

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Afterwards, I started to think about growth ratios and the longer term implications. Now while I might be referring specifically to Access World vs The Competition, perhaps it is a general principle at play.
....
I could be delusional. Is my thinking off? What are your thoughts on this, does this also apply to all entities?
People and technologies change over time. Adaption (even anticipation) to those changes is required.

When I was doing Access programing (in a small office environment) it was the application of choice. Now, personal desktop computers are better, more powerful, and access to the internet is much better. Browsers, such as Firefox can now be the front ends to databases, such as MariaDB. An easy substitute for Access. Fortunately (at least for Access) "old" technologies can hang-on for extended periods of time, COBOL and the fax machine being such examples. Another example, the cell phone is having an adverse impact on amateur radio as a hobby.

As I was writing this, it occurred to me: Who or what do you consider to be the competition to this website? Know the "enemy" so that you can outflank them with superior service.
 
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Jon

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It is a good point to answer who is the competition to this website. My first response is the next largest Access forum. However, I might be off-target! In fact it could be a database cloud provider, or something else that sucks the life out of Access. Didn't Microsoft launch something recently for Office 365 where they are like mini-apps that can drag in database from all aspects of the office suit?

My main thoughts revolved around this site growing faster than the competition, but while the entire market size shrinking slowly over time. So how that affects this site depends on the rate of market shrinkage verses the rate of growth of this forum.
 

vba_php

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I am trying to make the site as good as possible, so we become that black hole, absorbing everything into it so that you cannot resist its pull.
While your site IS a Godsend Jon, it is NOT a black hold because there IS an escape route. You have no event horizon here. Sorry sir. :p

but while the entire market size shrinking slowly over time. So how that affects this site depends on the rate of market shrinkage verses the rate of growth of this forum.
more than likely, there will always be a need for stand-alone programs like Access. Not everyone on earth will fall victim to the "cloud", as they call it. Certainly the paranoid people of the world won't ever use the cloud??

I will personally *never* put anything of mine in a cloud, white or black. I have no need for it. I automate so much of my tasks, as far as pulling content to the screen from the windows folders. I can't possibly do things that quickly if I put the stuff on a cloud server. Unless of course I become a cloud developer. Not likely.
 

Jon

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I loved the horror movie Event Horizon.
 

The_Doc_Man

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Adam, on this point we agree. I have no cloud accounts either. I trust the cloud about as far as I can pick it up and throw it.
 

vba_php

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Adam, on this point we agree. I have no cloud accounts either. I trust the cloud about as far as I can pick it up and throw it.
well....it's pretty much a safe environment Richard. but there's always the possibility of the server interconnectivity getting confused with itself and the entire system crashing. Just like the algos running the stock market have gotten entangled in the past which cause mini-market crashes
 

Steve R.

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I loved the horror movie Event Horizon.
Absolutely a horrible movie. It was a horror to watch. But then, it is biased opinion since I appreciate SF movies to be more or less based on "reasonable" science and fantasy.
 

The_Doc_Man

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In line with the titular theme and the movies diversion...

With Disney's acquisition of Marvel, looks like the House of Mouse is getting a LOT bigger. I don't ever want the small "indie" studios to go out of business, but with so much money available, the Mouse will be able to put together a lot of films and in so doing will employ a lot of people. We can argue about the merits of having concentrations of capital. However, with their bankroll to fund big productions, the studio easily keeps a lot of folks on the payroll so they can crank out another movie or two or six. Or they can subcontract a lot of work, which isn't terrible.

They have the incentive to get bigger because their business model is to make movies to make money and they can do that better (and more often) if they get bigger. Walt Disney would probably laugh himself silly to see how big his brain-child has become.
 

Jon

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Economies of scale come to mind. Having said that, Indie movies are great in that they can go in more alternative directions.
 

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