# Companies creating their own competition **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888 "2023-03-30T16:13:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@CastletonSnob1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob1)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/1 "2023-03-30T16:13:06Z")
What were some times a company accidentally created their own competitors? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/2 "2023-03-30T16:15:12Z")
IBM basically made Microsoft with a mishandling of DOS. As of 1980, Microsoft was a tiny company until they partnered with IBM for DOS. IBM licensed the product instead of buying it outright or buying out Microsoft. It is covered well in this article: > **[History of Microsoft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft)** > > Microsoft is a multinational computer technology corporation. Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Its current best-selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system; Microsoft Office, a suite of productivity software; Xbox, a line of entertainment of games, music, and video; Bing, a line of search engines; and Microsoft Azure, a cloud services platform. > In 1980, Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM to bundle Microsoft'... ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/3 "2023-03-30T17:00:41Z")
Peet’s and Starbucks have been intertwined for decades. Separate, then together, then separate. It all started with Mr. Peet. At first you could only get Peet’s beans/grinds and Starbucks beans/grinds, then Peet’s beans used at Starbucks coffee bars. Now you can get Starbucks beans and a Starbucks pour, and Peet’s beans and a Peet’s pour. Mr. Peet wasn’t left out to dry - it doesn’t seem like he ever intended to be a coffee bar mogul, just introduce good coffee to America. But I guess now that you can find both brands on the shelf, he did create his competition. [https://www.daleisphere.com/the-intertwined-history-of-peets-and-starbucks/](https://www.daleisphere.com/the-intertwined-history-of-peets-and-starbucks/) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/4 "2023-03-30T17:21:33Z")
Another PC related one: In the 1980s Intel licensed the design of their 8086 processor to AMD, because IBM demanded a second source for CPUs, in case Intel couldn’t meet their demand on their own. AMD then went on to design their own x86 compatible processors. Not quite the same as the others, but back when GM first created their various divisions – Chevy, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac, they all had very specific price points that didn’t overlap. If you wanted a nicer car than your old Chevy, you’d have to upgrade to a Pontiac or Olds. But by the 1960s, Olds and Buick were selling lower priced cars, and Chevy was offering nicer models. It got to the point where GM’s own brands were effectively competing against _each other_ rather than presenting a united front to compete against other car companies. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/5 "2023-03-30T17:49:17Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Another PC related one: In the 1980s Intel licensed the design of their 8086 processor to AMD, because IBM demanded a second source for CPUs, in case Intel couldn’t meet their demand on their own. AMD then went on to design their own x86 compatible processors. Second sourcing is very important for buyers, so I doubt Intel, which was a relatively small company back then, still mostly doing memories, had a choice. And it probably worked out well for them for avoiding antitrust suits. When I was at Intel the management tried really hard to not say anything that might sound like they were stifling competition. What Andy Grove said privately I wasn’t in on. Here is an article on the AMD Intel lawsuit that sprang up later > **[Intel-Amd Battle Yields Hollow Victory Bitter Copyright Infringement Case...](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/jan/22/intel-amd-battle-yields-hollow-victory-bitter/)** > > Intel President Andrew Grove displays samples of Pentium microprocessor chips, which AMD agreed not to copy. File/Associated Press AMD basically won. After this AMD developed their microcode in a “clean room” with people who had no exposure to any Intel IP except the instruction set definition. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/6 "2023-03-30T18:01:31Z")
Nintendo partnered with Sony to create a new Nintendo system with a disc drive. Nintendo broke the deal off, so Sony went on to create the Playstation on their own. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/7 "2023-03-30T19:56:18Z")
My parent’s business had such a toxic atmosphere that MDS spawned no fewer than 6 competitors, all started by former employees with a grudge. Including myself. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/8 "2023-03-30T23:55:20Z")
The bad blood between the Dassler Brothers had Rudolf Dassler leave the company (called Geda at the time) to form the Puma brand of sneakers. Adolph Dassler introduced Adidas the next year to get back at his brother. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/9 "2023-03-31T01:39:22Z")
Kodak literally invented digital photography. In their own research labs. > **[What Kodak Said About Digital Photography in 1975](https://petapixel.com/2017/09/21/kodak-said-digital-photography-1975/)** > > In 1975, a 24-year-old engineer named Steven Sasson invented digital photography while working at Eastman Kodak by creating the world's first digital > They were convinced that no one would ever want to look at their pictures on a television set. Print had been with us for over 100 years, no one was complaining about prints, they were very inexpensive, and so why would anyone want to look at their picture on a television set? So they tried to hide it away so it didn’t threaten their business of designing and selling film cameras, photographic film, and processing materials and services. The technology leaked out anyway, and other companies made digital camersas that completely ate Kodak’s business alive. They were bankrupt by 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/10 "2023-03-31T02:31:59Z")
In 2000, Wizards of the Coast, the owners of Dungeons & Dragons, created an open game license allowing third party creators to use their game system and some of its intellectual property without paying any fees. In 2002, Paizo entered into a deal with WotC to start publishing both Dragon and Dungeon magazines which had previous been published by TSR and then WotC. In 2007, WotC decided not to renew their agreement with Paizo, so they instead started publishing adventuers compatible with D&D. These were published as the Pathfinder Adventure Path and they were well written and extremely popular. In 2009, Paizo released their Pathfinder Role Playing Game which was basically their version of D&D using the open gaming license from WotC. A year earlier, WotC had released the 4th edition of D&D and many fans were dissatisfied with it and jumped ship to Paizo. Depending on who you ask, Paizo’s Pathfinder was outselling D&D some months. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-creating-their-own-competition/981888/11 "2023-03-31T03:14:06Z")
The Motion Picture Patent Company controlled all aspects of film production starting in 1908. Anyone making films had to pay them. The organization was based on the east coast, with a couple of film companies from Chicago. Film producers moved to California to be out of reach (remember, it took days to get from NY to Cal). These west coast film companies defied them and eventually broke the patents. Hollywood became the center of film production and most of the companies in the MPPC all went out of business by 1920