The anti-Meta #Fedipact can only achieve one thing: make sure that #ActivityPub loses to the Bluesky protocol. Is that what people here want?
As an #openweb advocate, I don't.
Meta joining the Fediverse is like AOL joining the internet: something that will bring a mass amount of people in, create some friction, but ultimately make the net better as more people federating on #Mastodon, #kbin, #lemmy, #pixelfed and other parts of the Fediverse make open protocols that much stronger.
@TNLNYC "Meta joining the Fediverse is like AOL joining the internet"
Maybe. Or maybe it's like Microsoft joining the World Wide Web.
Microsoft's strategy (which worked) was Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
First, they embraced the Web, and made it easy for their users to get online. Very soon, Internet Explorer was the most used web browser.
Next they extended the Web, taking open protocols and adding proprietary extensions. Microsoft added HTML tags that only worked in IE, or changed the way tags worked so sites only looked right in IE. They replaced cross-platform Java with ActiveX, which only worked on IE and Windows.
Finally, they tried to extinguish their competition.
This is when the US government finally stepped in. They sued Microsoft (Bill Gates lied on the witness stand), and won. But, when George Bush Jr. took office the government abruptly settled and Microsoft effectively escaped any real punishment.
So yeah, let Meta join, but be wary.
Fully agree on being wary.
But note that the web survived Microsoft and their own control of the web wasn't undone as much by government as it was by a product that was thought superior (Google Chrome vs. IE)
Open protocols (HTML and HTTP) ensured that none of them got full control and maitained an environment for a new player to emerge.
It's the same with ActivityPub as a protocol.
It's like you didn't understand anything I was saying. HTML and HTTP were the very open protocols that Microsoft Embraced, then Extended, and then tried to Extinguish.
The only reason they didn't get full control was that the US Department of Justice sued Microsoft for abusing their OS monopoly.
That lawsuit is also the only reason that Google exists today. Had it not been for the antitrust case, Microsoft would have crushed Google the same way they crushed Netscape.
Yes, it is the same with ActivityPub as a protocol.
If Meta has their way they'll embrace it. Once other fediverse sites interoperate with them, they'll extend the protocol, adding some Meta-only features that makes the experience worse for anybody trying to interoperate with Meta. Finally, when their competition is squeezed out, they'll Extinguish the protocol.
Tristan Louis
Merc