Elena Rossini ⁂Apr 2

RE: https://mas.to/@Aubreader/116330793703168577

This article is a must read.

An excerpt: “Why would anyone fund an Atmosphere project if #Bluesky, with $100 million in the bank, might ship a competing feature at any moment? Why would a founder bet their career on this ecosystem? The presentation didn't just hurt Graze. It made the entire ecosystem look unfundable.”

Why do I keep bringing up this topic?

Because #ATproto is often put in the same category as #ActivityPub (“open protocols yay”) but I strongly disagree with that stance

Show threadLumiWorx6d ago

@_elena

After reading, it leaves me with concerns that are not dev related.

1. If there's xlarge $ infusions involved, it means profit will always be 1st, and fuck the tech. They will never care.

2. If they'll eat their young once - and don't wince about it - they WILL do it again and enjoy it more aggressively every time.

3. Once they have a taste of their own, they'll feed on other's 'outside the family'.

They want performing monkeys, not projects with merit.

Show threadElena Rossini ⁂5d ago
@lumiworx I sometimes feel like I'm not a good "team player" when I point out weaknesses in the ATproto world. Big elephant in the room: the 100 million dollars in VC money by crypto bros. A lot of people I cherish are all for promoting both protocols (ATproto and ActivityPub), but I remain highly skeptical. And afraid. ATproto gives me big EEE vibes
Show threadTyrone Slothrop5d ago

@_elena in my experience, the main determinant for any technology’s long-term development is how control over it is structured. It’s all a question of power.

Technologies where power is centralized often grow quickly. Some achieve monopoly status, most others die.

Technologies where power is distributed often grow much more slowly. But they’re exceedingly resilient. Over time, many become part of the fabric of society.

@lumiworx

Show threadLumiWorx5d ago

@slothrop @_elena @Gargron

I remember a phrase that was drilled into me during college that fits in an oblique way here...

"You can have good, or you can have fast, but you'll never get both."

Show threadElena Rossini ⁂

@lumiworx @slothrop @Gargron excellent! I personally don't really see the upsides of "fast". Slow, organic growth is great.

As I said to someone else, look at where Linux is now!

Apr 3 at 11:57amWeb
Show threadTyrone Slothrop5d ago

@_elena @lumiworx @Gargron at the individual and business level, there absolutely are strong upsides to rapid growth.

But as a user of technology, I find that systems with distributed power structures are a much better place to invest my time, energy and money.