One ring to rule them all

with facebook opening its platform to outside developers (facebook apps) in May, speculation of who will rule the social software universe has again grown. We seem to expect a monopoly, duopoly, or oligopoly like in the operating system business, search, or messaging.

But if you look at the long-term trend (open access trumps walled gardens on the internet) and at all the tools available in the open source community, it seems that this is not where the action will be. In our analog/real/first worlds there are thousands of platforms (parties, cafes, libraries, schools, clubs, secret societies, etc.) and millions of communities that thrive. Maybe, what we need is more community entrepreneurs.

Some platform-projects you might want to look at:

For 3-D multiverses: Uni-Verse, Lib-Secondlife, Croquet.
Content-Management-Systems: Typo-3, Joomla. (thanks to Niki Helten)
Course-Management or E-Learning: Moodle.

About Philipp

Philipp Müller works in the IT industry and is academic dean of the SMBS. Author of "Machiavelli.net". Proud father of three amazing children. The views expressed in this blog are his own.

16. August 2007 by Philipp
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