The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Jan. 30, edition that unlike consumer apps or general-purpose enterprise tools, vertical market software is built for narrow, specialized industries. The Globe's guest columnist Trevor Scott writes that these systems are rarely replaced once installed. Constellation Software and its European spinoff Topicus.com are clear examples. The price tag on this kind of software is typically trivial. However, even when new functionality promises improvements, the complexity of migrating deeply embedded systems makes mistakes costly and slow, reinforcing the value of incumbents. Constellation founder Mark Leonard warned last September to be cautious about predicting the impact of artificial intelligence, pointing out that technology frequently develops in ways that differ from popular expectations. AI is often framed as an existential threat to software incumbents, but in vertical markets, it may be a source of advantage instead. Despite this resilience, Constellation and Topicus are being treated like any other software stock. For investors opportunity lies in owning quiet compounders whose free cash flows can grow for decades, steadily, predictably and well ahead of the market.