According to technology entrepreneur and software architect Brandon Werner (pictured), one of the things that Steve Jobs and Scott McNealy have in common are that they are both people "who never gave in to the Horizontal marketplace," who were "never willing to give in to the quality penalty such a move would give their companies and their reputation."

"Horizontal" vendors, exemplified by Wintel and Dell, squeeze the costs out of a business; in contrast, according to received wisdom anyway, a vertically integrated systems company like Sun (or Apple) is tied to the costlier but more quality driven "Vertical" process.

But is it, in reality, costlier? Werner thinks not. "Participating in Vertical Markets does tend to be more expensive up front," he argues, "but the cost isn’t non-existent in the Horizontal model, it’s just more hidden."

"Perhaps to an America where most people live paycheck to paycheck, a cheap Creative player now may mean you can afford to pay the integration cost in the future the next time you get paid (another cable, another music service, customer support calls, syncing issues, rebuilding the library, upgrading to Vista for that “extra” media ability, ect.) but in the end, you’ll still end up paying just as much, especially if you value your time."

Werner anchors McNealy's contribution to the industry in terms of his indefatigable commitment to verticality:

"Java uses the Vertical Market strategy, taking Java and extending it to Java EE and Java ME but with the same integration and quality of what is in J2SE. In the end, it’s the Vertical strategy that will win out as people become as fiercely brand loyal as they were during the American car days of the 1900s. Yes, you had to pay more for Chevy engine parts for a Chevy car, but as the dealers knew you could just as easily get a Ford the next year, prices were high but not exuberant. Also, you always knew it would Just Work(TM) and get you to work on time, even if you had to pay the Vertical Market premium."

Steve Jobs and Scott McNealy, Werner asserts, are both "people who never gave in to the Horizontal marketplace, never willing to give in to the quality penalty such a move would give their companies and their reputation."