>>The flaw in this argument is that automobile technology and development software have been equally commoditized. There's a wealth of evidence to the contrary.
Precisely. If we think "development" rather than "development software" then who does this benefit?
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1