“Platform Adjacency Theory - Infrequently Noted”
I agree with everything in this post by Alex Russell . Even the criticism of Firefox and Apple.
The big problem I have is that ad cos like Google are at least as big a threat to the web as ‘casting it in amber’.
We have two big threats to the web:
- Universal surveillance in an age of rising authoritarianism.
- Technical stagnation in the name of protecting privacy.
And currently these two forces are acting as counterweights to each other.
Removing one on its own risks destroying the web via universal surveillance or technical collapse.
IMO, the only way for the web to thrive, long term, is for Google to be reformed (or broken up) and for Apple to be reformed (forced to open up its platform) both at the same time.
If you only reform Apple, the web becomes Google’s surveillance monopoly. If you only reform Google, you hand the future of apps and interactivity to Apple on a platter.
We, as a society, need both.
And, ideally, we need anti-trust action against Amazon and Facebook as well. All at the same time.