On the map

At the centre Closing off interoperability is how a platform locks people in, and that lock-in is what lets the service be made worse without losing them. Holds CDCory DoctorowADAnil Dash Read this korrent →

• Similar wording A dominant platform is more fragile than it looks, because pushing users far enough makes even the locked-in ones leave. Holds CDCory DoctorowMWMolly White
• Similar wording Platform decay is the result of specific decisions by identifiable people rather than impersonal historical forces, which is precisely what makes it reversible. Holds CDCory Doctorow
• Similar wording Netflix’s position on AI in production is creator enablement rather than prescription — flexibility in the tools, not one approved way to make something. Holds ESElizabeth Stone
• Similar wording OpenAI's claim that DeepSeek trained on its outputs is narrative management: other startups bootstrapped exactly that way and were never banned for it. Holds NLNathan Lambert
• Similar wording What a shared digital economy needs is interoperability, not cryptocurrency: a database or a standards body does the job, exactly as railway standardisation did. Holds TSTim Sweeney
• Similar wording Letting non-programmers vibe-code features into a large existing product destroys its architecture, even when every individual change looks defensible. Holds DHDavid Heinemeier Hansson
• Similar wording Maxing out your token usage is optimising one node of the factory for utilisation instead of the end-to-end goal of shipping value that is stable and lasts. Holds DHDex Horthy