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The pendulum does always swing away from a walled garden. The author makes a compelling case for Wordpress as a distributed and open potential social platform.

The pendulum does always swing away from a walled garden. The author makes a compelling case for Wordpress as a distributed and open potential social platform. Love to hear what Matt thinks about it.

JumpCrisscross 14y ago
»"The pendulum does always swing away from a walled garden" I sympathise with the sentiment expressed but must point out that there is no market force that prefers un-established open products to established walled gardens save for a fraction of hackers' tastes and preferences. Most people don't care, for rationally self-interested reasons, whether the product they use is open or closed as much as whether it works or not.
- xtractinator 14y ago
  >>I sympathise with the sentiment expressed but must point out that there is no market force that prefers un-established open products to established walled gardens save for a fraction of hackers' tastes and preferences. Oh, yes there is, it's called change.
  - JumpCrisscross 14y ago
    The point isn't that established players are immortal. It is that the role of open v closed in that usurpation process is negligible. Closed systems overturn open systems just as much as the other way around (or closed v closed or open v open). Very few people outside hacker culture care whether what they use is open or closed.
- paulsutter 14y ago
  I'm making a cathedral v bazaar argument. Openness itself is of little benefit to end users, but open systems have a potential for distributed evolution that's lacking in centrally planned systems I'm not predicting that Wordpress will supersede Facebook, but I do predict that something will eventually. Of all the alternatives known to me, Wordpress is a fascinating suggestion.
- joe_the_user 14y ago
  What you need for a migration from one social network to another: 1) The existing platform being annoying/uninteresting/distrusted. 2) A small but "cool" section migrating to a new platform. Facebook won by being adopted by an effective wedge group - college student. Those who open source might (or might not) be a different but effective wedge group.

The pendulum does always swing away from a walled garden. The author makes a compelling case for Wordpress as a distributed and open potential social platform. Love to hear what Matt thinks about it.

JumpCrisscross 14y ago

»"The pendulum does always swing away from a walled garden" I sympathise with the sentiment expressed but must point out that there is no market force that prefers un-established open products to established walled gardens save for a fraction of hackers' tastes and preferences. Most people don't care, for rationally self-interested reasons, whether the product they use is open or closed as much as whether it works or not.

xtractinator 14y ago
>>I sympathise with the sentiment expressed but must point out that there is no market force that prefers un-established open products to established walled gardens save for a fraction of hackers' tastes and preferences. Oh, yes there is, it's called change.
- JumpCrisscross 14y ago
  The point isn't that established players are immortal. It is that the role of open v closed in that usurpation process is negligible. Closed systems overturn open systems just as much as the other way around (or closed v closed or open v open). Very few people outside hacker culture care whether what they use is open or closed.
paulsutter 14y ago
I'm making a cathedral v bazaar argument. Openness itself is of little benefit to end users, but open systems have a potential for distributed evolution that's lacking in centrally planned systems I'm not predicting that Wordpress will supersede Facebook, but I do predict that something will eventually. Of all the alternatives known to me, Wordpress is a fascinating suggestion.
joe_the_user 14y ago
What you need for a migration from one social network to another: 1) The existing platform being annoying/uninteresting/distrusted. 2) A small but "cool" section migrating to a new platform. Facebook won by being adopted by an effective wedge group - college student. Those who open source might (or might not) be a different but effective wedge group.