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Hm, isn't it the other way around? In the 90s, the technologies that made the internet boom were things like Linux, Mysql, php, which were created in europe (wi

Hm, isn't it the other way around? In the 90s, the technologies that made the internet boom were things like Linux, Mysql, php, which were created in europe (with great US contributions). . Google wouldn't be able to commoditize its search so easily otherwise. US companies were (and are) great at consumer-facing tec. It's in the past decade+ that the US has become dominant in just about everything tech (largely because of the cloud and mobile). It has also become excessively dominant in the media (outside china), so dominant and centralized that american outrages end up becoming global outrages. When was the last time we saw twitter trends coming from outside the US? There is a war going in on armenia, yet overshadowed by a US debate (before potus got covid, which overshadows tonight's alien invasion). All operating systems that have substantial user base are now made in US. Even the TikTok case is telling. Many european countries do not wish to have bad relations with china, or don't see them as a threat, yet they 'll follow suit in banning it. I think it's the other way around. There is too much americano-centrism in the internet now, and that s a problem because it's being filled with increasingly more numerous and more rigid american rules (gone is piracy, subscriptions for everything, app stores, gatekeepers everywhere). This is a culture that is not fun, and consumers will take note. TikTok is probably just the beginning of people searching for new toys outside america's walled garden.

giantrobot 6y ago
The Internet boom of the 90s up to the dot com crash was powered primarily by the big Silicon Valley companies like Cisco, Sun, SGI, and Oracle. Linux and the greater LAMP stack didn't become dominant until after the dot com crash. Even then a significant amount of FOSS money/contributions were coming from US companies. Also keep in mind the P in LAMP really meant both Perl and PHP. I'm also really curious when exactly you think popular (in terms of users) operating systems for computers didn't come from the US. Symbian and BlackBerry OS are the only two coming to mind and neither were general purpose OSes. As for American-centric Internet...wow. Piracy is still a thing. Subscriptions are a revenue model in no way unique or specific to the US. Web browsers still exist so I don't see how "app stores" did anything to make the Internet American-centric. Those same web browsers can access websites with no gatekeeping unless you live in an authoritarian state that does gatekeeping for you. Describing the Internet as an American walled garden is, to be charitable, absolutely ridiculous and borderline stupid.
- cblconfederate 6y ago
  Yes of course, LAMP wasnt the only technology, but it was at least one of them that the rest of the world had some influence in. I didnt say they were popular, but linux and nokia OSs had a substantial user base, and they could act as alternatives. The internet's overton window is almost 100% defined by the US. The cultural norms, free speech norms, cryptocurrency norms, comedy norms, nudity norms, all are filtered by US companies, and the US acts as a relay for just about anything that goes on in the internet. Only russia and china have enclaves with internet cultures that deviate from internet orthodoxy.
  - giantrobot 6y ago
    I can't tell if you're spouting off propaganda or are just very naive about the Internet. While US companies have a huge presence on the Internet there's plenty of huge non-English language sites that have next to no presence in the US but are extremely popular in their linguaspheres. The norms you're seemingly complaining about are pretty common in Western-style liberal democracies. It's not like US companies are exporting many norms that aren't common to most first world countries. Cryptocurrencies abound so I don't see why you're complaining about filters. As for nudity norms...when the fuck has the Internet not been rife with nudity. If you can't find nudity on the Internet I'm wondering if your WiFi is working correctly. Really it seems you're trying to project onto the US/US companies the sort of filtering and censorship Russia and China (to name two countries) engage in with gusto. They have "enclaves" because they actively block foreign sites and services from their citizens. The Trump administration's efforts against TikTok and WeChat face legal challenges in the US and have a good chance of being struck down as unconstitutional. Despite fantasies by the current administration to the contrary the US is not an authoritarian dictatorship. They can't just unilaterally block a foreign website without some due process.
    - cblconfederate 6y ago
      This is a good example of the bubble the internet lives in. Every criticism of the monoculture must be russian or chinese trolling.

giantrobot 6y ago

The Internet boom of the 90s up to the dot com crash was powered primarily by the big Silicon Valley companies like Cisco, Sun, SGI, and Oracle. Linux and the greater LAMP stack didn't become dominant until after the dot com crash. Even then a significant amount of FOSS money/contributions were coming from US companies. Also keep in mind the P in LAMP really meant both Perl and PHP. I'm also really curious when exactly you think popular (in terms of users) operating systems for computers didn't come from the US. Symbian and BlackBerry OS are the only two coming to mind and neither were general purpose OSes. As for American-centric Internet...wow. Piracy is still a thing. Subscriptions are a revenue model in no way unique or specific to the US. Web browsers still exist so I don't see how "app stores" did anything to make the Internet American-centric. Those same web browsers can access websites with no gatekeeping unless you live in an authoritarian state that does gatekeeping for you. Describing the Internet as an American walled garden is, to be charitable, absolutely ridiculous and borderline stupid.

cblconfederate 6y ago
Yes of course, LAMP wasnt the only technology, but it was at least one of them that the rest of the world had some influence in. I didnt say they were popular, but linux and nokia OSs had a substantial user base, and they could act as alternatives. The internet's overton window is almost 100% defined by the US. The cultural norms, free speech norms, cryptocurrency norms, comedy norms, nudity norms, all are filtered by US companies, and the US acts as a relay for just about anything that goes on in the internet. Only russia and china have enclaves with internet cultures that deviate from internet orthodoxy.
- giantrobot 6y ago
  I can't tell if you're spouting off propaganda or are just very naive about the Internet. While US companies have a huge presence on the Internet there's plenty of huge non-English language sites that have next to no presence in the US but are extremely popular in their linguaspheres. The norms you're seemingly complaining about are pretty common in Western-style liberal democracies. It's not like US companies are exporting many norms that aren't common to most first world countries. Cryptocurrencies abound so I don't see why you're complaining about filters. As for nudity norms...when the fuck has the Internet not been rife with nudity. If you can't find nudity on the Internet I'm wondering if your WiFi is working correctly. Really it seems you're trying to project onto the US/US companies the sort of filtering and censorship Russia and China (to name two countries) engage in with gusto. They have "enclaves" because they actively block foreign sites and services from their citizens. The Trump administration's efforts against TikTok and WeChat face legal challenges in the US and have a good chance of being struck down as unconstitutional. Despite fantasies by the current administration to the contrary the US is not an authoritarian dictatorship. They can't just unilaterally block a foreign website without some due process.
  - cblconfederate 6y ago
    This is a good example of the bubble the internet lives in. Every criticism of the monoculture must be russian or chinese trolling.