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The blue LED was supposed to be impossible—until a young engineer proposed a moonshot idea.

  • muix@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    201·
    9 months ago

    I was working for a place that was the market leader in a certain niche of simulation software. Their simulation was about 10x more efficient than their competitors. However, that version of the software is strictly off limits for the public, and made a version which they sold with a sleep statement so that it was only 1.1x faster than the next best solution. That way they could remain market leaders any time the competitors released a better version. Even though many systems rely on growing simulations to simulate bigger scenarios that could help save lives.

    Just an example of capitalism impeding progress.

      • muix@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        6·
        9 months ago

        Exactly why I left that company.

        Specifically free (libre) licences, as permissive licences allow corporations to improve/adapt the software without contributing back to the community.

        I only work on software with GPL compatible licences now.