Four factors of the Long Tail

The fourth point below has its own take, since many of the high-enders generally use their market control to keep intellectual properties locked up - a silo for everyone else. So being able to re-mix commonly available works is different from democratizing the tools. Democratizing products is also necessary - it explains China's ascendency, since the country doesn't recognize other international copyrights. Also predicts that there might be new philosophic breakthroughs from rural areas as broadband becomes truly ubiquitous. (Science and technology breakthroughs are not probable unless you can induce scientists who love to hunt and fish to congregate in rural areas. One possible breakthrough would be use of virtual labs which can generate devices in a remote location from the originator.)

The Long Tail:

"NextSmallThings suggests a new Long Tail force to go with the three I've described-- 1) Democratizing the tools of production (e.g. the PC) 2) Lowering the transaction costs of consumption (e.g. the Internet) 3) Connecting consumers to drive demand to niches (e.g. Google): 'I’d like to suggest that there’s a 4th ascendant force: 4) Increasing opportunities to reuse content/product/service in new and more convenient contexts.' My own take: that's part of Force 1."