I really disagree with the philosophy espoused in the article, which is that the web will not succeed for 'users' in this or that place on this or that hardware

I really disagree with the philosophy espoused in the article, which is that the web will not succeed for 'users' in this or that place on this or that hardware unless 'developers' decide to do things in a certain way. This is not what the web is about, at all. The web is not centralised, relying on all-powerful 'developers' to decide to build things for 'users' who are powerless and must accept what they are given. It's the opposite. If people don't like things they can build better things themselves. If something doesn't work for them, they can build something that does. The tools are out there, the knowledge of how to use them is out there and freely available, there are practically no barriers to entry to building stuff assuming you have a computer and an internet connection. So, yeah, just build things in the way you think is best. If people don't like it they won't use your thing, and will use someone else's thing that serves them better or just build their own. That's both the greatest beauty and the greatest strength of the web.