On Tuesday I took a firm stand against an internet of open standards and consensual development of technologies. Corresponding with others has led me to refine my stance. I will explain why.
First: Why do people want an internet of open technological standards?
Who uses the internet? Everyone. Literally everyone - from kids in Zimbabwe to executives in New York. And because everyone uses it and we all want to look at a lot of the same stuff that means we need to access that stuff in similar ways. Joe B. from class mentioned in a comment on my original post the importance of having a "continuous experience" on the web. Open standards mean you can make a website and have full confidence that anyone who wants to look at it will be able to do so.
Second: What are the problems with the current system?
The internet is very democratic. Andrew Shapiro from Hardvard wrote an article describing this democracy here. Generally we view this as a good thing. And it is a good thing when its applied to government. Try to thing of other organizations adopting democratic ideals. It would be problematic if a large family's children could outvote their parents. It would be unpractical for everyone in a large organization to agree on every new product idea. And its also crazy that all the groups that have a say in the internet have to agree on any new idea. It slows down innovation and results in the agreed upon ideas being watered down versions of what we really need.
Third: How can we change the system?
The biggest obstacle we face is the fear of failure. Most organizations (whether its the government, or companies) like to play it safe. "Why spend time and effort developing a new technology if there's a good chance it won't work out? Why not just stick with the same stuff we've used for years and know works?" This is the thought process. And honestly its not a bad philosophy. But when everyone is thinking that way then not a whole lot a new stuff gets done. And the stuff that does get done is really handicapped by dependencies on older technologies. Ron P. from BYU Broadcasting says, "Things like Google's Dart programming language show promise. Its a clean break from older technologies and yet includes a great dart2js compiler that makes it backwards compatible. It works for now and the future."
There will always be a place for open standards but when they grow to dictate every development they become oppressive. Innovation needs freedom. Excessive standards stifle that freedom and limit creativity.
This is a great discussion. I would follow up with one question that needs to be answered. If there is no standard, there is no progress. But what constitutes "excessive standard?"
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