I feel like I fully lack the words to describe what I mean here, although I’m confident in my understanding of the idea. (Which is to say, please give me charity when untangling my rambling.)
I share your sentiment and I’ve been thinking about this the past few days.
I’ve read in a few places that Musk is trying to turn twitter into a ‘one-app’ in the same way that WeChat is. The common pushback against that is that we already have that - it’s the web browser. The web browser isn’t going anywhere.
But turning the browser into a closed ecosystem that Google gets to set the standard for, harvest the data for, advertise through, and ensure that users are locked in to their version of the experience/data that they collect essentially makes Chrome the one-app.
In much the same way that google killed XMPP, Microsoft used its weight to hamstring open document formats - this seems like an effort to thread a rope around the neck of the open internet and use google’s considerable market share to close off the open internet.
Somewhat ironically, we may find ourselves in search of a ‘new, open internet’ if corporations continue to define our current internet.
Maybe we’ll call it “Web 1.0.”
I think Google will try, but we all know how it will end. Google and other for profit companies have this stage where they become “anti user” and just care about squeezing the more money out of everyone with no regard to the experience or the value they keep providing.
At that point Chrome will be a terrible experience and users will be looking for alternatives. Not the passive users, but the world is full of users who don’t just sit there seeing everything getting shittier and shittier every week. A large enough portion of users will hear about a better place and get curious.
Nah not just one company. Reddit, Twitter, basically every social media, streaming services, every site adding stupid ads and auto playing videos, etc. It all adds up
Fully agree, I was just trying to keep it relevant to Google. All that shit needs to be dropped. As people realize that rather than free, all that shit is really expensive, maybe they’ll make a move.
Neutral like electricity. It is a force that can be used for good or bad. Google is trying to harness that energy for its own profit and control. I wasn’t referring to the structures created to administer it. That is another can of worms.
The vast majority of internet traffic these days goes through a few different portals. Pretty much the few biggest sites. Google/YouTube, Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp, Tiktok, Reddit, Twitter(“x”)
Most people connect through these through some type of application on a mobile device. Most of these users couldn’t tell you what DRM was or what web standards are. They don’t care, they just wanna look at funny videos and get updates through clickbait headlines.
These people aren’t going to boycott anything. The same thing that reddit is in the process of doing - killing off the old users and considering their power over the average apathetic user - Google is essentially going to try and do.
It’s a scary time. The internet we all grew up with it irreversibly changing.
This. Like for real. I might be in a minority here but but I’m not going to just accept this crap and deal with it. If you implement these changes and your site is not absolutely essential for me then I’m going elsewhere. If 90% of big websites become unusable with my browser then I’m going to hang in the rest 10% with my like-minded folks. I don’t care that it’s quiet and much more slow paced, it’s still better than the shit everyone else is serving and frakly better for my mental health aswell.
I spent like 2 to 3 hours on reddit every single day for 10 years. Then they killed my favourite app and I just quit then and there and haven’t looked back. I have no problem doing that again.
It’s weird. The internet really seems to be pushing me not to use it these days.
Welcome to late stage capitalism. The free Fed money train is over, time to squeeze the plebians to death.
This
I feel like I fully lack the words to describe what I mean here, although I’m confident in my understanding of the idea. (Which is to say, please give me charity when untangling my rambling.)
I share your sentiment and I’ve been thinking about this the past few days.
I’ve read in a few places that Musk is trying to turn twitter into a ‘one-app’ in the same way that WeChat is. The common pushback against that is that we already have that - it’s the web browser. The web browser isn’t going anywhere.
But turning the browser into a closed ecosystem that Google gets to set the standard for, harvest the data for, advertise through, and ensure that users are locked in to their version of the experience/data that they collect essentially makes Chrome the one-app.
In much the same way that google killed XMPP, Microsoft used its weight to hamstring open document formats - this seems like an effort to thread a rope around the neck of the open internet and use google’s considerable market share to close off the open internet.
Somewhat ironically, we may find ourselves in search of a ‘new, open internet’ if corporations continue to define our current internet.
Maybe we’ll call it “Web 1.0.”
Let’s call it the fediverse. :)
I think Google will try, but we all know how it will end. Google and other for profit companies have this stage where they become “anti user” and just care about squeezing the more money out of everyone with no regard to the experience or the value they keep providing.
At that point Chrome will be a terrible experience and users will be looking for alternatives. Not the passive users, but the world is full of users who don’t just sit there seeing everything getting shittier and shittier every week. A large enough portion of users will hear about a better place and get curious.
Not the Internet, that is neutral. It is only one large corp that is trying to control the Internet. If everyone boycotts them, then they will fail.
Nah not just one company. Reddit, Twitter, basically every social media, streaming services, every site adding stupid ads and auto playing videos, etc. It all adds up
Fully agree, I was just trying to keep it relevant to Google. All that shit needs to be dropped. As people realize that rather than free, all that shit is really expensive, maybe they’ll make a move.
Where did you get this idea that the internet is neutral?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality_in_the_United_States
Neutral like electricity. It is a force that can be used for good or bad. Google is trying to harness that energy for its own profit and control. I wasn’t referring to the structures created to administer it. That is another can of worms.
The vast majority of internet traffic these days goes through a few different portals. Pretty much the few biggest sites. Google/YouTube, Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp, Tiktok, Reddit, Twitter(“x”)
Most people connect through these through some type of application on a mobile device. Most of these users couldn’t tell you what DRM was or what web standards are. They don’t care, they just wanna look at funny videos and get updates through clickbait headlines.
These people aren’t going to boycott anything. The same thing that reddit is in the process of doing - killing off the old users and considering their power over the average apathetic user - Google is essentially going to try and do.
It’s a scary time. The internet we all grew up with it irreversibly changing.
This. Like for real. I might be in a minority here but but I’m not going to just accept this crap and deal with it. If you implement these changes and your site is not absolutely essential for me then I’m going elsewhere. If 90% of big websites become unusable with my browser then I’m going to hang in the rest 10% with my like-minded folks. I don’t care that it’s quiet and much more slow paced, it’s still better than the shit everyone else is serving and frakly better for my mental health aswell.
I spent like 2 to 3 hours on reddit every single day for 10 years. Then they killed my favourite app and I just quit then and there and haven’t looked back. I have no problem doing that again.
I look forward to this implementation, as it will make it easier for me to see which sites are truly not worth visiting, and which sites are.
Hopefully Google does not implement it seeing there huge backlash.