A simple idea about the open web, for all who think it's "idealistic" to do stuff to keep it going. 

All the publications that used to be called magazines and newspapers when they were printed objects, do you know where those publications live? 

They don't live on Facebook, yet. Or on Twitter, or Apple or Amazon, or even Medium. 

They live on the open web, of course.

You can be sure of one thing, all those companies plan to suck the good stuff off the open web, into their silos, where they can monetize the shit out of it. Now there's no guarantee that they will succeed. In fact, they can't all win. But here's something that will happen. They will suck some or all of the life out of the open web. It's already happening.

The probability that you will thrive inside a silo is pretty small. I've been there, as a software developer. It never works because of something called the Stack Fallacy. The platform guys always oversimplify what happens on their platform. It's human nature. And because of that their ecosystems are unhealthy. Nothing really interesting grows there. For that you need the wilds of -- the open web -- of course. 

Why don't we hedge our bets. Not assume that we all will enjoy being locked in the trunk of the tech industry while they party up front. The air supply in the trunk is, famously, not very reliable. ;-)