Flow My Thoughts, The IT Professor Said

Enmeshed Or Ensnared?

http://www.netaction.org/futures/networks-all.html

The theme of InterNet control and issues relating to this has been discussed at length in this blog. Here is an extensive, footnoted, and heavily-linked discussion of the alternative before us, presenting a contrasting scenario pair. On the one hand, we have the Microsoft-controlled network viewpoint; on the other, the vision of an open network.

The major issues involved are enumerated in terms of:
* Manageability
Microsoft has been notorious for offering a poor computing experience which, because the code is proprietary, is difficult for users to enhance. The open character of the InterNet, by contrast, has repeatedly shown it can take a licking and keep on bitting.
* Information coherence
To what degree can users protect information about themselves? In a proprietary network, the software provider decides; in an open source network, the user can decide [though the details of this decision can be difficult].
* Extensibility
Microsoft has been famous for "embrace, extend, exterminate", with ultimately limited extensibility as a result of closed-source limitations. By contrast, a major focus of open source software is easy extensibility, with no inherent barriers to doing this.
* Fault Tolerance
How can and will Microsoft ensure against failure? The open net is a vast skein of different components using a multiplicity of interconnections, meaning that if one part fails, there usually is some alternative capacity which can be used.
* Security
Despite "trustworthy computing", Microsoft's track record in this area has been less than reassuring. Giving people choice in security at least makes it clear where the locus of effort should lie.
* Resistance to political/legal intervention
Just how controllable is Microsoft, once its initiatives are implemented? We have seen, when mobilized, how the network can be controlled; we also see how it can resist such control when the issue involved is being approached inappropriately.
* Scalability
If .NET depends on a centralized Microsoft server farm, what happens when [as would appear nearly inevitable] the server is down or access to it is disrupted? An open network, namely the InterNet itself, has already demonstrated scalability at a global level.

Each one of these is a major issue worth investigation and discussion, and highly suitable for classroom or essay work. The answers to these questions will determine what sort of connected experience we will ultimately have.