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The reason Paul is calling Digi-Key evil is because they are actively trying to kill Octopart in order to preserve their monopoly pricing, not because they won't cooperate. Octopart needs as much cooperation from Digi-Key as Google needs from Wikipedia.

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Monopoly is a misnomer here. Is Wal-Mart a monopoly?

The parts supply industry is not an industry of monopolies. There are a few large names--Grainger, McMaster-Carr, MSC, Digi-Key--that probably account for 25% of the market, and then a very, very, very long list of names most people have never heard of.

Ironically, Ma & Pa Electronics are frequently the ones with the highest prices. Large distributors like Digi-Key are often less expensive than small local shops.

Monopoly isn't the most technically accurate word, but behaviorally I'd say that Digi-Key is acting like a monopoly. Typically monopolies like to hold on to existing business practices rather than adapt to changing market economies. Regardless of 'good', 'evil' or 'monopoly', it seems to me that it is inevitable that online price comparison will start to become the norm for most markets. Digi-Key's reaction to this is very monopoly-like (in another world, they could choose to work with us and make sure they get the lion's share of traffic from our site).

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