It's Akerlof's "Market For Lemons" writ large. Users can't assess the quality of software before they buy it and sink ages of their own time into learning it. Often users can't assess quality problems even after they've bought it. So the market isn't going to reward quality.
(The original paper was about cars; now we have software in our cars the problem is twice as bad. VW 'defeat devices' and Toyota 'unintended acceleration' passim).
It's Akerlof's "Market For Lemons" writ large. Users can't assess the quality of software before they buy it and sink ages of their own time into learning it. Often users can't assess quality problems even after they've bought it. So the market isn't going to reward quality.
(The original paper was about cars; now we have software in our cars the problem is twice as bad. VW 'defeat devices' and Toyota 'unintended acceleration' passim).