Damus
Gigi profile picture
Gigi
@Gigi
Open protocols win because they can improve without permission. Closed platforms die because they have to make money to keep themselves alive.

Closed platforms have to grow at all costs to capture as many users as possible. If they don't manage they will be eaten up by competition. If they do manage they inevitably crumble under their own weight. The experience has to get worse because they have to squeeze captured users & imprison them so they can't run away. They will also inevitably be captured, be it by political or corporate interests.

Open protocols can grow slowly and steadily, or occupy a certain niche until they are perfectly adapted for it. They don't have to grow at all costs, and die only if interest goes to zero. As long as two people use a protocol it is alive. Interoperability allows users to leave at any time with near-zero exit cost, meaning that clients have to compete on merit, not on capture.

With closed platforms, "capture everyone" is the name of the game. It's a finite, zero-sum game.

With open protocols, symbiosis & cooperation is a better strategy. Positive sum. Everybody wins.

1874❤️136🤙75💜7🔥4🧡4👍3
DataNostrum · 131w
The flip side is chaos, innovation going so fast that clients will have a hard time staying on a similar wavelength. The risk for #nostr is the tower of Babel.
OT · 131w
I'd like to agree with this... But then I remember Apple has a $2 trillion market cap. They got there through a closed system, dominate with all their slick network effects & Apple specific products that you need to buy with the phone. Why?
lowborn · 131w
Genuinely like to know if you are for or against Bip300 under the banner of "Open protocols win because they can improve without permission"
doot · 131w
words words words words words words words words words words
tanel · 131w
nostr:npub13wfgha67mdxall3gqp2hlln7tc4s03w4zqhe05v4t7fptpvnsgqs0z4fun can you summarise this note
LordMelkor · 131w
Is this overly reductive? My understanding is that ARPAnet started as what most would call a “closed” platform, and it later became the underpinnings of modern internet.
Noah · 131w
This can be said of society's reliance on money (including bitcoin)
nostrich · 131w
Interesting question with some nuances. Have e-mail protocol standards been captured by Google or not? Or is it a natural monopoly exerting power over an open protocol? What is good? What is too much? Is there something as too much?
roots · 131w
Completely agree on that statement. Was a BSV guy, still is. In the future, maybe not. I think nostr is the future, so is the future of apps and internet. This is truly Web3 to me, not most protocol that are being built today. Which lightning network wallet do you recommend?