It has to be both collaboration and competition. In the science community, the more that work together, the better the results. With different groups doing the same project, competition becomes necessary to fuel the speed and quality of coming upon a conclusion. Plus humans are a social species, only with a group is anything recognized. Even solo musicians have a team behind them pushing their records, shows and etc. I think collaboration is important in the sense that without feedback from others, a work produced is one minded. Competition helps in the sense that it pushes the boundaries of the social norms. For instance Gates had Windows distributed pretty well. Jobs however, took what already existed and modified at a higher quality. (Of course its pretty subjective) but the point is competition moves humanity forward. I can’t think of a profession where people aren’t inspired by others to make their performance better.