Nice things about the web
By Dave Winer on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 12:37 PM.
Oh how the Bay Area culture loves to make technology a life-and-death struggle. Things that were never alive in the first place, like the web and RSS are said to be "dead." I think it's hubris and bad karma to be in the business of pronouncing things dead. That's the province of a higher being . Us mortals, well we do die. I'd hate to have my last words be that something or someone else is dead.
Famously, Doc Searls's dad's last words were: Am I dead?
A moment later he was. (He was having a fatal heart attack.)
Anyway, to paraphrase the famous fictitious Met, Chico Escuela, "The web been berry berry good to me." So rather than say bad things about Wired and magazines, I thought I'd start a list of nice things about the web. If you'd like to make a contribution, leave a comment, or link to a blog post of your own that says something nice about the web.
1. The web is where I read about the web being dead.
2. I can write what I want on the web and Steve Jobs doesn't have a say in it.
3. NakedJen is called NakedJen on the web, where on Facebook she's called "Jennifer Neal," which I find both confusing and sad.
4. If I want to write more than 140 characters on the web, I can damn well do it. (78 characters.)
5. The web allows for graphics. That's how I was able to paste in the beautiful picture of a cupcake in the right margin.
6. The web also makes reciprocity easy, that's why I linked to places you can buy cupcakes or books about cupcakes. These are all things that can make you happy.
7. Corporate media is filled with lies and lunacy. But making it possible for me to seek the information I want without anyone telling me what I want the web makes it possible for me to get more nourishing news and information, and other points of view. Before the web, well it was a lot worse. A lot.
Interesting contrast: This is what the web told me about the Ground Zero mosque. CNN's anchor would have flunked high school civics.
8. It's where my brain trust meets to help me solve technical problems.
