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It is - compare the internet to the AppStore or the Play Store. The internet could've easily been something like that - a walled garden accessible only through
by sombremesa 7y ago
It is - compare the internet to the AppStore or the Play Store. The internet could've easily been something like that - a walled garden accessible only through proprietary clients, where you could only publish content through prescribed channels. Sure, people would've created open alternatives, but just like is the case with the AppStore alternatives today, those alternatives would languish for want of an audience.
- bordercases 7y agoYou don't need a commercial aggregator to deal with the problem of an audience. You just need a well-known aggregator. The mobile phone is seems like a good analogue of the walled garden model and unsurprisingly computers like Macs and Chromebooks show some of their roots there.
- Aloha 7y agoIt could have been AOL. The underlying power of the internet remains the ability to use it for virtually any application.
- headsoup 7y agoI was only responding in kind to the above poster who provided no context for their answer... And context does matter, because in some places the internet is basically Facebook, which is certainly not open