While the world stands and marvels at the beauty of Wikipedia, Vipul Naik takes a view contrary to the general perception. He believes that while it has actually monopolised the online encyclopedia sphere, it’s achieved this despite its so-called strengths — such as open collaboration, and the concept of wiki itself.
When we usually think of monopolies, we think of for-profit corporate companies. For instance, Microsoft, at a certain point, had a near-monopoly on operating systems software (today, there is significant competition from Linux, Apple and many others). The monopoly didn’t materialize. In a similar manner, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, currently has a near monopoly on the encyclopedia business. Again, the monopoly isn’t likely to materialize, but it does give some very clear lessons on how to try monopolizing.
He wonders if Wikipedia would stand the test of time and competition.
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