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On trust and control
Nov. 22nd, 2005 02:14 pmI read Go Flock Yourself for refreshment from hype and bullshit. Sure, I use web apps that have been inflicted after the event with the "Web 2.0" label; I even write web code using XMLHttpRequest and the like: I still cherish any snarky skepticism I find about the latest XML-empowered folksnonomic web, life and world transformative paradigm that lurches briefly into the light.
Imagine my surprise then, when, amongst all the deconstruction of empty pseudo-technical rhetoric, they posted Web2.0 is the anti-open source which nicely expresses my own discomfort about and ultimate distrust of flickr, del.icio.us, Amazon, Google and all the other closed-source, proprietary web apps out there, for all that I use them. Publishing an API is not the same as opening your source; what grounds (other than naïve optimism) have you for trusting, say, flickr? Or Yahoo!? Or Yahoo!'s shareholders? (trust me: no public company has any loyalty to its customers whatsoever; it's a one-way transaction).
Cynicism isn't always a bad thing: when you pass your data out of your control to a third party in return for the synergistic power of social networking and, real or illusory, community, just be aware that you're doing so.
Imagine my surprise then, when, amongst all the deconstruction of empty pseudo-technical rhetoric, they posted Web2.0 is the anti-open source which nicely expresses my own discomfort about and ultimate distrust of flickr, del.icio.us, Amazon, Google and all the other closed-source, proprietary web apps out there, for all that I use them. Publishing an API is not the same as opening your source; what grounds (other than naïve optimism) have you for trusting, say, flickr? Or Yahoo!? Or Yahoo!'s shareholders? (trust me: no public company has any loyalty to its customers whatsoever; it's a one-way transaction).
Cynicism isn't always a bad thing: when you pass your data out of your control to a third party in return for the synergistic power of social networking and, real or illusory, community, just be aware that you're doing so.