[zwtaylor]

Sometimes I like to imagine what Twitter or other social networks might look like as a subsidized public utility. I'm sure it would more than likely be poorly executed in practice, but it would go a long ways in eliminating the need to squeeze every last ad-dollar from a service, a process that often dilutes what is at its core a valuable public platform.

Obviously an idea that runs contrary to the usual thinking around here, but something worth a quick muse over.

[sk8ingdom]

Ultimately isn't this what RSS and email were / are? Open methodologies that work across a wide array of technologies and are not owned by specific corporations?

I don't like my technologies (especially the ones I invest heavily in) to be owned by particular companies that need to please investors / shareholders. I know that my needs will always come second to their financial goals--this is particularly true for unpaid services (twitter, Google, Facebook, etc.).

I don't know why we were so quick to abandon "outdated" technologies in favor of corporate owned ones. It short of seems like we forfeited our data and collective ownership in open platforms / public utilities in favor of things that were easy and looked cool.

[bduerst]

Usually the open methodologies are ditched for paid or subsidized versions simply because the latter is generally of a higher quality.