NaibofTabr

Like… one at a time? on a stick?

OK, but I’m not arguing for the sake of argument. What I take issue with is the overly negative point of view that isn’t justified by the reality of the current technology market. It’s limited, depressive and ultimately self-destructive.

Perspective matters. Money isn’t the only measure of success. Internet infrastructure is basically Linux, nginx and Apache - seriously, apart from user endpoints it’s pretty much all open source - and the most common endpoint OS is Android so also open source. The idea that open systems aren’t as successful as proprietary ones doesn’t reflect reality, it’s a projection of a limited point of view onto reality (it only seems true if large portions of the current technology market are ignored).

The economic model we’re in has been around for hundreds, arguably thousands of years in most ways. What about it?

And open source came into being inside of that model, and has grown and thrived since. So obviously, it’s not impossible.

The norms we are discussing here is that under capitalism, the norm tends to be trending away from free and open systems.

Right, this isn’t true. While certainly there are some businesses that try to restrict it, open systems grow and spread anyway. Open source is bigger and stronger than ever today. Open source software is so widespread that it’s a security concern for governments (look at the log4j fiasco). You interact with open platforms every day, even if you don’t see their names in commercials or on billboards (many of them don’t have to advertise).

IBM tried that in the 60s, 70s and 80s with their business mainframe systems, along with HP and several other manufacturers. Before IP gained prominence every major manufacturer had its own proprietary connection system they tried to sell, and the competition in the market was just as fierce then as it is now.

It didn’t work, the open model made all of the proprietary network systems obsolete.

Think of the Facebook internet access schemes that tried to make everything go through facebook.

You’re right that they’ve tried to do this and it’s ugly. But they’ve only been able to do it in places where they didn’t have to compete with an existing service, so I would argue that it’s successful only in a vacuum.

There are a lot of very successful businesses based around open source software. Open models are perfectly functional in the present. Their potential for success isn’t some relic of past idealism.

the current economic model we live under.

The internet isn’t exactly ancient technology. Do you think the ‘current economic model’ is significantly different from the 1970s? (and can you back up that conclusion?)

I think what the author meant was that it’s impossible in the capitalist marketplace.

Nonsense, the marketplace was also capitalist when the internet protocol was developed in 1974. It wasn’t that long ago.

Also, I’ll point out that open source software is very successful today and there are a lot of businesses based around open systems. Linux is the most widely used OS, particularly for embedded devices. Apache is the most widely used web server. You’re using an open source platform right now. You probably interact with open source systems every day, you’re surrounded by them, and they were developed in and thrive in the ‘capitalist marketplace’.

…exactly the kind of technology that’s supposed to be impossible: open, empowering tech that’s not owned by any one company, that can’t be controlled by any one company…

Who is suggesting that such technology is impossible? The internet is literally exactly this, based on an open standard (Internet Protocol) which is not controlled by any proprietary group.

IP wasn’t the first computer networking standard to be developed, but its open nature made it accessible to any interested manufacturers and that made it the most successful standard.

Anyone suggesting that this “kind of technology” is “supposed to be impossible” is either ignorant or stupid, or both.

Realistically, the more accessible the internet becomes the more it reflects the behavior of humanity at large.

These things exist because they’re part of us. The internet probably makes them more visible, but I doubt it makes them more extant.

Trying to make a place popular for the sake of popularity is putting the cart before the horse, and will always be a losing battle.

Make your Lemmy instance a place worth spending time. Don’t worry about user counts or popularity.

Sh.itdoesnt.work