Software developer policies : economics and s 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010

This article considers the impact of developer policies that hinder or restrict cross platform application development. We suggest that policies that hinder or restrict cross platform development have the potential to erode competition within the market for smartphones. The article also considers the relevance of dominance measures in software markets, arguing that conventional economic approaches may not be applicable. Furthermore, while most monitoring activities tend to focus primarily on protection of consumers, the article points out that modern electronic/information technology markets are multi-sided and there is a need for monitoring of practices designed to attract and retain the favour of developers. While the article is written in the context and application of the applicable Australian legislation, this being s 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), our findings are equally relevant to other jurisdictions.

Space-for-time substitution to assess likely response of aquatic ecosystems to future climate-related change

Predicting and managing ecological response to a changing climate is often limited by an incomplete understanding of response thresholds and biogeographic differences. For example, step changes in rainfall and runoff, and threshold dynamics and hysteresis in ecological response make projection of future conditions difficult. To combat these constraints we propose that biophysical data across exiting climatic gradients can be used in a space-for-time substitution to predict climate-related ecological response elsewhere. This method builds on previous attempts at space-for-time substitution by using patterns in physical and physicochemical data to explain biological differences across the spatial gradient, then using those patterns to formulate hypotheses of temporal ecological response and finally testing those hypotheses on temporal data available in a second, similar region of interest. 

Tim O'Reilly and web 2.0 : the economics of memetic liberty and control

This article presents an account of the role of Tim O'Reilly, both as an individual and as a corporate entity (O'Reilly Group), in the creation, spread and use of the concept of Web 2.0. It demonstrates that, whatever Web 2.0's current uses to describe variously the technologies, politics, commerce or social meaning of the Internet, it originates as a deliberately open signifier of novel and potential internet development in the mid-2000s. The article argues that O'Reilly has promoted the diversity of the term's meanings and uses - celebrating textual liberties - but has also emphasised the special role that O'Reilly plays in providing the authoritative definition of that term. In essence, O'Reilly profits from this 'control' of the idea of Web 2.0 but that, to enjoy that control O'Reilly must also allow differences in meaning. The article concludes by suggesting that Web 2.0 therefore signifies a new kind of economics that brings together freedom and control in a new way.