Comment by fhd2

Screws are probably primarily not a B2C product , and screw producers probably integrate with their customers' systems and processes in non-trivial ways. I don't know enough about screws to make this concrete.

If there's no market for libraries and frameworks (like there used to be), the next best equivalent appears to be SaaS and software you can buy and run/host yourself. Germany seems to be doing pretty good there, considering SAP.

The problem I see is primarily that most software businesses aim to get out of their niche. I suppose a screw maker is perfectly content just being the number one in screws. A software business is rarely that focused: Better to do a lot of things OK than one thing great. Marketing and sales are the big levers, not quality. Probably because software is largely being sold to people who can't even judge their quality and mostly buy based on vibe. Software is, after all, a pop culture.

So if every piece of software gravitates towards being everything for everyone, and if marketing (money) is the big lever, it's a lot more of a winner takes all environment. That's an excellent environment for strong hustlers. It's a terrible environment for quiet people that care about quality.