>One of the reasons "Web 2.0" has such an air of euphoria about it is the feeling, conscious or not, that this era of monopoly may finally be over. And now in

>One of the reasons "Web 2.0" has such an air of euphoria about it is the feeling, conscious or not, that this era of monopoly may finally be over. And now in the post "Web 2.0" era, monopolies may be out, but walled gardens, superspy databases, and DRM'd things (tractors, coffeemakers, etc.) that you don't really own are in. What's the next wave of euphoria? Possibly re-decentralizing the internet? Doesn't sound like a Microsoft thing. Giving control back to the user? That sounds more Microsofty. Given the choice between using local software that you choose and control vs a remote app (from the the only walled garden you can access) that spies on you, rifles through your data, and may delete it at any time without your permission... They could find a market. At the moment, Microsoft is kind of unique in having an OS that's not tied to a walled garden app store by default, and which is centered around local desktop software (that usually doesn't have a lot of spying built-in) designed to work with local data. (other than Linux of course) The privacy issues of Windows 10 (in the default settings) do not indicate that they're going that route.