Blog "about python 3"

[Chris Angelico]

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 12:23 PM, Steven D'Aprano
<steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:
> (However, to the extent that Amazon has gained monopoly power over the book
> market, that reasoning may not apply. Amazon is not *technically* a
> monopoly, but they are clearly well on the way to becoming one, at which
> point the customer has no effective choice and the market is no longer
> free.)

They don't need a monopoly on the whole book market, just on specific
books - which they did have, in the cited case. I actually asked the
author (translator, really - it's a translation of "Alice in
Wonderland") how he would prefer me to buy, as there are some who sell
on Amazon and somewhere else. There was no alternative to Amazon, ergo
no choice and the market was not free. Like so many things, one choice
("I want to buy Ailice's Anters in Ferlielann") mandates another
("Must buy through Amazon").

I don't know what it cost Amazon to ship me two copies of a book, but
still probably less than they got out of me, so they're still ahead.
Even if they lost money on this particular deal, they're still way
ahead because of all the people who decide it's not worth their time
to spend an hour or so trying to get a replacement. So yep, this
policy is serving Amazon fairly well.

ChrisA