Stackoverflow is the prime example for how a company can generate tremenduous value without making that much money.
It's difficult to estimate its contribution to the world economy quantitatively, but I'd definitely say billions, many many billions.
It's difficult to estimate its contribution to the world economy quantitatively, but I'd definitely say billions, many many billions.
I agree that they make an enormous contribution to the world economy. Joel really did knock it out of the park -- remember expertsexchange? His goal was to get rid of that and it worked.
Didn't you quit your job and program it while Joel was still mainly focused on Fog Creek day-to-day?
Community feedback was a huge part of that feedback cycle once the beta was live.
You left out the other co-founder: codinghorror [1]!
FTFY:
Joel [and Jeff Atwood] really did knock it out of the park -- remember expertsexchange? [Their] goal was to get rid of that and it worked.
A thought provoking example I had pointed out to me recently is the GPS system, which was built and is maintained by the US government but is a free public service. The amount of public value from it is astronomical.