Fox and Rabbit Products

October 5, 2018

Old question:

Q: Why does the rabbit run faster than the fox?

A: Because the fox is running for his dinner, but the rabbit is running for his life.

Some products are running for their dinner, and some are running for their lives:

• If Android shut down tomorrow, Google would be sad. If iOS shut down tomorrow, Apple would be dead.
• GitHub used to run for its life. Now that it’s been bought by Microsoft, it’s running for its dinner.
• Everything from Microsoft that’s not Windows or Office is running for its dinner.
• Everything from Google that’s not search is running for its dinner.
• Why did macOS and the MacBook Pro suffer in quality over the last decade? Because the growth of iOS meant they went from rabbit products to fox products.

In general, as a customer you’ll do better with products that are running for their lives, for the same reason that the rabbit runs faster. Prefer AWS over Google Cloud Platform, Spotify over Apple Music, and Slack over Hangouts.