The Internet has been moving so fast that it doesn’t even know what it is anymore. It’s like a teenage boy trying to figure out what kind of adult he’s going to become. That’s the time in life when you’re most vulnerable, most on edge, and most unpredictable.
Right now, we’re hearing more and more regarding the argument of the web being either “open” or “closed.” To most, open-source everything has the most advantages and allows for users to construct the type of adult that it will become. However, an expedited puberty can lead to a horrifying adulthood.
The arguable leaders in this open-source push today are Facebook, Google and Apple.
Apple is changing the way we take the Internet with us while allowing developers to build an independent career via a .99 cent application.
Google is innovating how we’re able to find and obtain knowledge – almost like an online on-call education system.
Facebook is holding the power of mindshare and is attempting to possess a stranglehold on all online activities through the power of users sharing value.
While all these companies strongly endorse “open” activities online, isn’t it ironic that their business models are so closed? If you think about it, each of these companies have created something so “open” that it has caused its own “closed” communities with few freedom and liberties within them.
Apple is forcing their Operating Systems into everything and denying any outside help along the way. The end goal is for you to not be able to purchase anything outside of the app store. More money for them.
Google has always acquired rising startups and innovations on the web in order to keep users locked into their own ecosystem. How “open” is it if I can’t get a Blogger account without having some other sort of Google account first?
Facebook is being selfish enough to disregard ethics, morals, and the well-being of their millions of users. All that matters is that they’re creating a platform that monitors your every move online. How open is that?
It’s as if the jaws of the Internet has “opened” so far that it has no choice but to collect what it can and close itself in order to be comfortable again. Help you if you allow yourself to get eaten up along the way.