Many feel that Big Tech is an unbeatable force. Certainly, companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta have a great deal of power. They also have access to capital that few of us can truly understand.
These factors would make it seem like they are an unbeatable force. They hold all the cards, especially since digital technologies appear to be a "winner take most" game.
How are the rest of us going to compete? Do we even stand a chance against these behemoths that monopolize the technology pages and financial media?
Actually, there is a powerful solution. It is the one area where Big Tech is powerless. This is no different than Superman being exposed to kryptonite.
Big Tech is rendered imponent when this is introduced.
What we are referring to is open source.
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Open Source: The Enemy of Big Tech
There are many examples of how open source, over time, can take out Big Tech.
The smartphone is a prime example. Apple revolutionized things with the introduction of the iPhone. This, naturally, contained IOS.
A bit late to the game was Android, released by Google. This was open source and took over the smartphone market.
What is important to note is the ecosystem that develops around open source software. We need to look no further than Linux to realize how things grow.
Closed source is dependent upon a company. The people working on it, for the most part, are employed by said company. There is a limitation to the number who can participate along with what can be done.
That is not true for open source.
Under this scenario, anyone is free to contribute. Coders all over the world participate in the writing, testing, and distribution of the code. It is in the open for everyone to see. Many will fork it as a short cut to what they are creating. There will also be more development, as time passes, since innovation can come from anywhere.
That isn't to say that Big Tech folds up. We still see Microsoft as the dominant operating system with PCs. The difference is laptops or PCs are not the dominant computer. With smartphones, more people access the Internet view these devices. That means Android is actually the main OS.
Decentralization And Exponential Growth
This is a process that is accelerating.
With each passing year, we get further into the technological age. That means more people with technical skills exist as compared to decades before.
Forty years ago, the programmers were people from the most advanced schools. They were gobbled up by major corporations. Outside of those individuals, few were technically inclined with regards to software.
Compare that to how things are today. Not only do we have a couple orders of magnitude more people with coding skills, we are seeing non-technical people start to use software to accomplish basic coding.
In other words, what is being created in growing.
This is very important for the decentralized world. When it comes to blockchain, we see how open source is the norm. Many corporations are looking to integrate closed networks. This is not going to benefit from the same trends.
To me, this takes on added meaning when we start to look at AI. Here is where the closed versus open source debate is raging.
Meta stepped forward to support the open source side, seeking to build an entire ecosystem around their LLM. It basically wants to do with this technology what Google did with Android. There is a global community that contributes to the development and progress of that OS.
What happens is we get a complete shift in mindset.
No longer is it outcompeting everyone else. Instead, the focus shifts to contributing. What are you providing the ecosystem?
Again, the Linux community is probably the posterchild for this. That has about 3 decades of innovation, providing a cross section of open software for people to use. This not only includes the OS but applications for most everything we can think of.
Will blockchain duplicate that?
The Open Source Advantage
Early on, closed wins.
There is no way to compete, in the initial stages with large corporations. They get an early lead by throwing a lot of resources, both in terms of financial and personnel, towards a development.
Centralization allows for quick decisions with regards to focus, approach, and path forward. This is not the case with decentralization.
The decentralized world is like herding a bunch of cats. It is all over the place. There is no continuity or focus. People are basically doing what they want.
Here is where the power resides.
Over time, the decentralized arena grows. As more join the community, innovation comes in areas not previously considered. The numbers start to shift simply because there is no way to pay that many people.
Let us consider blockchain.
How many developers are involved in some manner? This can be those who are writing base layer code, infrastructure, or applications.
That number certainly is into the hundreds of thousands, if not the millions. Compare that to the largest tech companies in the world. How many developers do they have? Tens of thousands. Meta employs roughly 70K people in total. Obviously, not all of these people are developers.
The numbers is what starts to overwhelm things over time. At every layer, we see more rolled out. This gives users alternatives.
Naturally, none of this is an overnight process. It can often take years for things to advance to the point where open source even can hold a candle to the propriety software.
However, my guess is that is condensing as we move deeper into this technological era.
There could be a few surprises over the next decade.