The web is dependent on big tech, so interoperability will always be limited by shareholder interests
We have to consider the alternative hypothesis, that interconnectivity opens up markets and leads to global competition and winner-take-all phenomena, whether it is the internet, the money market, export controls, foreign real estate etc etc. If we really want the small guy to win again, maybe we should wish for the opposite
If that were the case, it would never have been built until big tech came along and invented it.
As the web existed for years before big tech got involved, and for a few more years after they got involved but were still playing catch-up, I don't see how that holds up.
> interoperability will always be limited by shareholder interests
Again, history shows the opposite.
There were a number of attempts by large corps to create something like the web before the web, like Minitel and Compuserve, and to some extent AOL. (Also see X.400 messaging before SMTP email) They all lost out to the web because they had gatekeepers and no interoperability, whereas the web with its interoperable standards allowed anyone to come along and build anything.
In a sense, it is dependent on big tech. Intel, AMD, et. al make the substrate upon which all of tech is dependent.
We don't notice it so much because the era of monopolistic dominance ended 30 years ago when AMD cloned the 386. The ability to write code that didn't utterly depend on Intel came along strong in the years since.
I think we're in that era now. People are beginning to notice that "social media" isn't really. People just want to send messages to friends and family, share photos with friends and family, and maybe catch up on what somebody famous, like Richard Stallman, is doing. (I have my finger on the pulse of public taste doncha know.)
The web's interoperability today is almost a miracle.
Take a look at other industries. Proprietary formats everywhere. You want to make music? Ok buy these VST and AU. Make games? FBX and PSD go burrrrr. And I'm sure it's only getting worse at more traditional, B2B industries.
Are you really sure of this? I can take any detergent for my dishwasher, any pots for my stove, plug any device into the sockets on my walls. I can continue this into eternity, you get the idea.
There are so many industries that really rely on interoperability and have been for so long, it’s so natural to you you don’t even notice it.
So, going back to your argument: it’s like Doctorov says - the phase of immense oligopolies right now is not the natural state of the web, and something we’ve seen with other industries in the past. We can do something about this.
I don't even know if I made an argument .I was merely expressing my observation. If I had an argument that would've be "interoperability is not for granted".
By the way sockets are not globally unified. So yeah web, an interoperable standard across billions of users, is quite a miracle.
That is why CLAP, a open spec is being pushed by some DAW. Steinberg(Yamaha) literally forbids to distribute older VST SDK today. The VST format is not open. CLAP doesn't have that problem.
The web is dependent on big tech, so interoperability will always be limited by shareholder interests
We have to consider the alternative hypothesis, that interconnectivity opens up markets and leads to global competition and winner-take-all phenomena, whether it is the internet, the money market, export controls, foreign real estate etc etc. If we really want the small guy to win again, maybe we should wish for the opposite