The Old Internet

I was on Arachnoid.com today looking for the lovely Ruby SearchReplaceGlobal I had used on my home machine. I happened to click on the link to this essay (post? rant?) and read it through. I really like his take on what the internet has become; "The new Internet, unlike the old, is hierarchical — there are vendors and there are consumers. The vendors are perpetually in your face, and the consumers, like consumers everywhere, behave like narcissistic children — whatever it is, it isn't good enough, give me more."

Like said, I read it through and it's a bit of a rant by someone who seems frustrated that users of his freeware won't take responsibility for themselves. I think that the "old" internet has been surfacing from time to time out there. It's ridiculously easy to get help from other developers out on the web, especially if it's an internet technology. Blogs are most often free and open content offered without any demands on the end user.

Social sites like YouTube are driven by user created content, but more and more they are being filled in with commercial content. They also have advertising, of course. I think sites like YouTube are more just companies realizing they can capitalize on a wealth of user created content and get advertising exposure simply by offering a neat service. Much like Myspace and Xanga capitalized on the angsty user drivel driven content from teenagers. That doesn't mean I don't approve, it's just interesting to see a social sharing phenomenon being twisted slightly into a give and take corporate relationship.