AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Not an OS

Last Thursday I tweeted: “I strive to maintain an open mind when nontechnical people talk about the ‘Internet OS’ or ‘Web OS’. Sometimes it’s tough.” I got some grumbles by email and I think the subject is worth more discussion. Let me be more specific: Neither the Internet nor the Web is much like an OS. And even if it were, that’d be the wrong way to think about what’s going on right now.

I’ve had this argument before. In March of 2007, Mike Arrington and I shared a stage at a startup event on the Sun campus, and talked about “Web 2.0”. Mike talked about a Web Operating System, I talked about people and information and business. Dan Farber reported ably. I don’t think either of us convinced each other.

I: It’s About People Not Technology · The “Web OS” meme is harmful because it’s about technology. But the Internet’s killer app is people, has always been, will always be. Every single step forward has involved finding new routes and patterns and tools for people to use interacting with other people. No exceptions. ¶

At the level of experience, Web 2.0 is about voices being heard. It used to be that there was a sanctified high priesthood that was licensed to publish: Journalists, novelists, and academics. Everyone else was an outsider, relegated to Letters-to-the-Editor or Speakers’ corner.

Nothing can possibly be more important than the experience of tens of millions of people, formerly outsiders, given a voice and an audience and a chance to join the global conversation.

This has been technically possible since there was an Internet. The crucial change was when Dave Winer and a few others proved that personal micro-publishing was fulfilling and self-supporting, by doing it.

More…