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posted by martyb on Friday November 02 2018, @07:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the too-big-for-your-boots dept.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the "father" of the World Wide Web, has said what many are likely feeling: the centralisation of the network has gone too far and it's time to consider breaking up the behemoths that dominate it to the extent of locking out new players.

The Register has more here: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/01/tim_berners_lee_internet_giants/

The source, TBL's interview with Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-technology-www/father-of-web-says-tech-giants-may-have-to-be-split-up-idUSKCN1N63MV (don't follow the Register link which is wrong).

Excerpt:
“What naturally happens is you end up with one company dominating the field so through history there is no alternative to really coming in and breaking things up,” Berners-Lee, 63, said in an interview. “There is a danger of concentration.”

But he urged caution too, saying the speed of innovation in both technology and tastes could ultimately cut some of the biggest technology companies down to size.

“Before breaking them up, we should see whether they are not just disrupted by a small player beating them out of the market, but by the market shifting, by the interest going somewhere else,” Berners-Lee said.

I'm in violent agreement with TBL, at least on the point of overcentralisation, what about you? I'd be more aggressive than his caution, perhaps, as the barrier to entry seems higher to me than him, and market shifts can be blocked or delayed by counteracting marketing tactics by the incumbents...


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by curunir_wolf on Friday November 02 2018, @05:44PM (2 children)

    by curunir_wolf (4772) on Friday November 02 2018, @05:44PM (#756954)

    IBM created the PC. Where are they now?

    Well, they still have over $100 billion market cap, and just bought Red Hat.

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    I am a crackpot
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @06:55PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @06:55PM (#757003)

    Surely that's proof of the inherent evil of a corporation, especially one that provided documented support for the Nazis!!111111111

    That is to say, what could your point possibly be?

    • (Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Sunday November 04 2018, @08:16PM

      by curunir_wolf (4772) on Sunday November 04 2018, @08:16PM (#757711)

      Corporations are not good or evil, dude. They are just a tool.

      --
      I am a crackpot