Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet
But another turn of the tech cycle would arrive, and as Microsoft grew more powerful, a sect of programmer activists struck back by forming the open-source software movement. As Tim O’Reilly, the tech publishing magnate, described the situation in his 1998 blog post “Freeware: The Heart & Soul of the Internet,” “Despite all Microsoft’s efforts
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More recent protocol networks enjoy no such resiliency. No credible protocol network, after thirty years of attempts, has succeeded beyond niche adoption.
Chris Dixon • Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet
Fediverse
The first, “protocol networks,” like email and the web, are open systems controlled by communities of software developers and other network stakeholders. These networks are egalitarian, democratic, and permissionless: open to anyone and free to access. In these systems, money and power tend to flow to the network edges, incentivizing systems to gro
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Technology that borrows from what came before is sometimes called skeuomorphic. The term originally referred to design elements in art that are intentional, albeit unnecessary, holdovers.
Chris Dixon • Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet
A better description is that blockchains are a new class of computer, one you can’t put in your pocket or on your desk, as you might with a smartphone or laptop. Nevertheless, blockchains fit the classic definition of computers. They store information and run rules encoded in software that can manipulate that information.
Chris Dixon • Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet
In most popular blockchain networks, the community receives more than 50 percent of the total tokens, which are distributed in various ways, including through airdrops, developer rewards, and early-adopter incentives. Instead of being concentrated in the hands of a small group of insiders, ownership is broadly distributed among users according to h
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Protocol networks endow users with ownership, which benefits all network participants, including creators, entrepreneurs, developers, and others.
Chris Dixon • Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet
The collective set of code repositories make up a branching tree of billions of interconnected ideas created by millions of people, most of whom have never met, yet who work collaboratively to advance the global store of knowledge.