Apple invented the PC. Microsoft invented that original rectangle: Windows 95. That was the peak year for Windows. Netscape slid in to suggest a browser is all you need. Google came to say, you don't even need a browser, you just need one site, a search engine, your gateway to all that there is online. Facebook came along to say you don't need the entire net, you just need people you know and you need to see the internet through that prism, let them filter it for you, it is too chaotic out there. Twitter came along to say people are important but not that important. All you need is bite size information, bite size communication. It is not who you know, since you can follow anyone you want. It is what you know, what you can know.
I guess you could start all over again with the mobile space, and claim, well, Apple went ahead and invented the iPhone all over again. So watch the drama unfold.
But about the big rectangle itself? What's next there?
Right now I am more interested in posing the question than attempting an answer, although I guess I could take shots, make guesses, offer vagueness. Be nebulous.
But then I personally might be more interested in stuff beyond the rectangle. The rectangle is fascinating, but not of primary professional interest to me. I am more interested in Web 3.0, or what I call Web 3.0. (Web 5.0 Is Da Bomb, Competing For the Web 3.0 Definition)
What is that journey from big, ugly mainframes to PCs to Twitter? Can it be argued that we have tried to get closer to the human dimension? And beyond? On Twitter, it can be argued we are at though process level. So it really is about people, right?
And if each human being is unique, the web is so much poorer for every human being who is not yet online.
I moved to New York City to work on my tech startup, but got distracted for a few years by some urgent political work for Nepal, best work I ever did so far: the king of the country had pulled a coup, now we are a republic. Obama 2008 furthered the distraction, kind of.
But Nepal does not go away, Obama does not go away. 75% of the work on Nepal is done, 25% remains, only Nepal does not have to be my sole preoccupation no more. So recently I got into a little online discussion at a private online group. In the course of making my moves I went to check out my Nepal mailing list, the largest in the world. I hit a message that said the mailing list had been removed by Google. I panicked. There was no way for me to contact Google Groups directly.
So I wrote to Google directly on Twitter. And it worked like magic. My mailing list is back. It deserves to be. It played a key role in Nepal's democracy and social justice movements.
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