[LINK] Moses: 'How the internet became a closed shop'

[Rick Welykochy]

Roger Clarke wrote:

> How the internet became a closed shop
> Asher Moses

> The amount of global digital information created and shared by
> consumers has grown exponentially over the past few years to 2.8
> trillion gigabytes in 2012, according to analyst firm IDC.

That is an incredible figure. What kind of data are IDC talking
about? I doubt each of apporx 2 billion users (2 gigausers) created
a terabyte (trillion bytes) of content in the past year. Perhaps
they are just counting traffic.

The observations in this article could have been lifted out of
a book I am reading called "The Future of the Internet and How
to Stop It" by Jonathan Zittrain.

He talks about apps being more and more tethered, i.e. living
inside a walled garden with little access to the surrounding
hinterland which companies often view as a wasteland.

http://futureoftheinternet.org/

I took the "leave google behind" idea quite seriously back in
March 2012 when they changed their UA to blanket and interoperate
amongst all their products. I've hardly noticed the change.

One of my clients insists on using Google Docs so I have to
enter the google garden once in a while for work related purposes.

I develop Linux server software on OS X and hardly notice the
Apple sandbox, since underneath it all is a very nice *nix
operating system. I often eschew Apple software and use alternative
open source software.

More and more savvy users will untether themselves in the future.
Linux will become more popular as users realise how beholden their
formerly open computers are becoming to corporates.

As Zittrain observes in his book, the "generative" Internet is
now giving way to the "applicanced" Internet. And those of us who
still wish to experiment with new ideas and work and play in a free
and open Internet universe will move away from walled appliance land.


cheers
rickw


-- 
------------------------------------
Rick Welykochy || Vitendo Consulting


The future ain't what it used to be.
      -- Yogi Berra