Folks talked about MySpace ID, AOL and OpenSocial. What was missing was someone from Microsoft.
Dave Morin was talking about connecting up the Facebook feed with Chris Messina and their efforts revolving around a shared, public aggregation model of lifestreams.
The guy from Digg talked about standardizing container for messages, registration and log-on and showed how much code he save and how efficient the “open model” was for Digg. They’re supporting OpenID, Facebook and their own proprietary formats, and loving it.
John McCrea was his usual enthusiastic self, David Recordon MCed and Joseph Smarr just kicked ass.
It was a totally inspiring evening. There were almost 100 people.
I had been planning and working on this panel for six months, ever since Loic and Cathy Brooks asked me to do it - during the summer. The timing was perfect because MySpace had just announced their MySpace ID platform at the show, while Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect both shipped last week.
And on top of all that, Microsoft shipped a major upgrade to the Windows live suite of apps and services - and SixApart had shipped a product called TypePad Connect - so every single panel member had made a major announcement and was shipping their “open technologies” - within the past few weeks.
What transpired was a fairly comprehensive panel discussion on the state of open platforms in the web today (even though we would have liked to have had more time to go into the positioning of OpenID as either a technology or a solution) and other ideas on how these platforms can connect together. However we simply didn’t have enough time.
So here’s the panel - I think it went really well:
During the panel we triangulated between the interests of the major platform vendors and their business models and agenda - with that of “what’s best for end-users.” We gave the audience an overview of the various approaches to open social networking - Facebook (highly integrated experience, 98% open), OpenSocial (a set of APIs for providing Facebook ‘like’ apps) and Live Mesh (which is a synchronization, cloud computing/local server mesh approach.)
I tried to give each approach it’s own day in court and as far as I’m concerned, I think all three of these approaches can play together and work with each other - to create a viable, happy ‘open mesh’ of inter-conncted networks. I know that’s an idealistic dream, but all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together.
We even got heckled from the audience by Michael Arrington, who claimed that being an open platform isn’t always the best user experience and that maybe Facebook was gonna win cause it WAS closed.
“We have a new president and he’s shown us that through working together with people, we can achieve good. The old school Republican attitude was to call out Facebook for what they’re doing WRONG, but our new attitude is to work together with folks to move forward. We owe allot to Facebook, as we do to Doug Engelbardt, and we all make our contributions to what ‘open’ is.”
The panel started off by identifying “Open is the new Black” as the latest trend permeating the major platforms today. We went over the ‘Open Stack” and what each of the panelist’s companies define as “open”.
Dave Morin of Facebook informed us that Facebook had 130M users worldwide, 650,000 platform developers (from 180 countries) and 14.5B page views - a month. But when I asked him how Facebook connects into the open stack and which of the layers of the stack Facebook would connect to - he didn’t have an answer. [NOTE: Privately we know that Dave Morin supports us, but he's not the boss at Facebook.]
What I WAS able to get out of Dave Morin was that we’ll be able to get access to the Facebook feed - whch we don’t today. Then David Recordon eloquently pointed out that building on top of open technologies (like our Open Stack) is better for developers and end-users. David is on the Board of the OpenID Foundation and there is movement to morph the OpenID brand into a full solution.
Max Engel then explained what MySpace announced (MySpaceID) and how MySpace users are used to have their ID as a URL (myspace.com/marc) and that fits right into the OpenID approach.
Dave Glazer then explained the difference between OpenID and OpenSocial (Glazer is on the board of the OpenSocial foundation.) OpenSocial brings Facebook app functionality - to “the rest of us”.
We then had a high level Microsoft executive named Jeff Hansen who explained how Live Mesh is a key component in their future and how it is a gateway technology to create and maintain symmetrical synchronization of one’s data and social graph - across a wide range of devices and your desktop. By implementing two-way APIs, Microsoft will enable any of us to access any Microsoft’s customer’s profile data (or any other implementation of these ‘live mesh’ protocols) and then put it right back from whence it came.
Then panel covers all the important issues of our industry today.
And if you have a blog - that’s ‘part’ of your social network environment, does it have it’s OWN stand alone blog display or is it integrated in along with your activity stream, apps, friends list and media gallery?
Can you route your blog posts - to other blogs, publishing end-points or file repositories?
Same thing about your media? When you upload a video or podcast, can you ALSO store it in YouTube, blip.tv or Seesmic?
Joeseph Smarr has been using the term Open Stack lately which refers to a combination of technologies - which together make up a full solution to end-user open platform requirements. He’s almost got it right.
He’s forgotten user interface guidelines - but that’s OK - cause it’s right on anyway.
In yesterday’s post on OpenID I implied that OpenID could morph from being a single technology to a brand that encompassed a whole BUNCH of technologies that provided a single point-of-contact for end-user’s solutions, education, and branding.
So this is about branding. “Will OpenID become the brand or will we need to find another brand?”
Open Stack is a little too general. I use the term open mesh - on purpose - cause I don’t WANT it to be specific. Open Mesh has to represent the combination of a bunch of different stacks; some open, some semi-open, whatever.
But OpenID sure is a great term - and it could certainly be morphed into THE brand.
This is what we need right now - a single entry point into solving the ID conundrum. ID is hard and asking end-users to keep track of the difference between Single Sign-On, authenticaton, reliable parties, claims, trust, security, privacy, data portability and persona - is just not gonna happen.
For me, it depends what you mean by ‘embrace’. It’d be awesome if OpenID could support the use of those things, and anything new that came along, perhaps even with a best practice list of standards for different markets - but on the other side of the coin, I’d worry about anything that tried to tie down the complementary technologies.
Well hell yes - we have to worry about anything trying to tie anything down.
But once a standard gets set - like OpenID, RSS, oAuth or OpenSocial - the idea is that each has it’s own life and will evolve on it’s own, while an amalgamated OpenID alliance/Open Stack - would ‘aggregate’ these standards together and focus on end-user solutions and education.
DiSO is exactly the kind of bridge/gateway effort that can help glue together many of these standards - and put a user interface on the front of it. What Chris (FactoryJoe) has been talking about for a while - are user interface guidelines so that importing. inviting, friending, sharing, commenting, etc. are all done - the same way.
This is a crucial piece of the ‘present a comprehensive solution to end-users‘ puzzle. Without that - and we’ll be stuck catering to geeks and nerds like us - forever.
Or as Rodney King said so eloquently “why can’t we all work together?”
Here is an annotated video of the speech I gave in Rotterdam recently (Sept,. 18th.) I now have these versions of this treatise (which is a guide for practitioners and marketers on the future):
As time goes on and new trends enter our space - I will continue to update the book, utilizing the wiki to collect feedback and input from everyone. Based upon WHEN you buy the book will dictate which version you get. And to all your mainstream publishers out there - I’m willing to cut down a whole bunch of trees and print up a BUNCH of copies - if you’re into it.
All of a sudden you don’t have to explain WHY you want to be open. Now it’ll just be “tell us exactly HOW you are open”. For portal players like AOL and Yahoo - the folks who defined portals in the 90’s - it has to do with letting “others” onto their home page properties.
The sanctioned grounds which make up a BigCos assets are no longer walled gardens. That’s the first stage of opening up. Next comes open standards to facilitate interop and dataportability. Then will come new kinds of apps, services and mashups which rely upon two-way APIs and a level playing field where SmallCo players can ‘live off the crumbs left behind by the behemoths‘.
This is why I wrote my book ’cause now the question is “with so much openness - how can we all connect together?” By using openness for their new resurgence these BigCos have forced us to ask - “what’s left for ‘us’?”
Open standards will be one way we can judge just how ‘open’ a platform is, and how well they’ll play with others. For instance - Yahoo has something called Yahoo Application Platform - which was described to me as ‘OpenSocial’. Well it’s either EXACTLY OpenSocial - or something like OpenSocial. The difference?
Well ladies and gentlemen - that’s the point. Either you support and USE open standards or you create ripoff knockoffs and pretend like they’re open standards but they’re not - they’re YOUR open standards. I hope you see the subtle but important difference.
The way to tell if these BigCo platform are truly open is interoperability and dataportability. Will we be able to connect our personae and activities ACROSS platforms - or just within one semi-open walled garden?
If I create an app that’s designed to work with AOL Music and Ticketmaster events - can I take that SAME app to Yahoo and connect into their Yahoo Music and Live Nation ticketing?
If I invent some new format - let’s say for monitoring lifestreaming - is it based upon RSS or Atom or is it yet ANOTHER new format?
We need to think of things from the end-user’s perspective. Will they be on Facebook and nothing else? Or will they use Friendfeed, Flickr and Gmail as well? That’s what I do.
We’re all witnessing a transformation of closed into open and now the devil is in the details. Whenever we see something that’s happening over and over again - something that is common - that’s fodder to make it a standard. Why subject our end-users to try and figurte out if Yahoo supports OpenSocial or just something that LOOKS and FEELS like OpenSocial?
In this post Erik talks about digital media codecs a subject near and dear to my heart - what was it - 15 years ago? Yes absolutely these issues are important and if the BBC can get rid of Flash, let alone Silverlight and Quicktime - then congratulations. But these are issues that don’t directly effect end-users.
No one cares if YouTube uses Silverlight, Ogg or Flash. It just doesn’t change the end-user’s experience.
To think that this battle is still raging is not only saddening but also tell-tale to the state of the BBC and what they’re focusing on.
I don’t know Erik Huggers - have never met the man - and he seems like a nice enough chap but I do know that much is riding on his leadership, vision and direction. And his ability to execute. He’s the boss who’s been charged with implementing the digital media strategy of one of the world’s leading media empires. The Beeb has over 300+ web sites, ranging from program guides and affinity niche networks to amibitious social media services.
The Beeb has it’s own player, 100’s of programmers and has been tasked with ‘opening up’ in a big way.
So Erik - I gotta tell yah - I love yah and all that, but talking about digital media codecs is the wrong thing to be talking about (at least in terms of OUR priorities.) Sure sure sure - not relying upon locked in proprietary formats like Flash is a good thing, but what about OpenID, oAuth, OpenSocial and Portable Contacts?
As we say out here in California “Come on DUDE! - get with it!”
All around you - the walled gardens are coming down. Even MICROSOFT is opening up! The vision and leadership the BBC exerted years ago when proclaiming ‘Open Data’ and the Open BBC - have long passed. Many many of the leading thinkers and developers who created knowledge management systems, media sharing apps and developed this revolutionary strategy - have left the Beeb.
Why do you think they left? Because trying to get the BBC to actually implement this startegy is allot harder than talking about it. Look at how hard a road it’s been for Yahoo?
The BBC is a government unit who have been charged with opening up - by law. As government policy, and as one of the world’s leading media entities, it is your DUTY to open up, first for British citizens - around the world - and then for the ‘rest of us’. It’s almost as if you’ll be the United Nations of openness.
This is a big task, and big job and that’s why this Yank it bitching at you - about talking about digital video codecs and not OpenSocial and OpenID. As Spike Lee says ‘do the right thing!’
The ramifications are frightening because correct execution will change the world, while dormant, lack luster, slow execution will just create more of - the same thing.
Its been years since the BBC made it’s original proclamations - and talking about digital video codecs is so - so - so 1990s. Come on Erik - get with it!
Lets do a Data Sharing Summit in London - for christ sakes!
Lets get your underlying identity platform connected to not only your 300+ web sites, but also the rest of the on-line world. Lets develop a series of promotions, contests, personal data mining, persistent ID presence so that real-time communications, on-line content and the Cloud can all embrace in a virtual ‘Piccadilly Square’ of interaction.
I’m looking forward to the day that the BBC takes it’s right place next to the other behemoth BigCos - only this time it’s paid with British tax dollars, but slimey banner ads.
I’m about to head over to Holland and we had hoped to do a Data Sharing Summit - sponsored by the BBC - at your offices in Shepherd’s Bush. But that didn’t happen.
Perhaps this post will get you supporting OpenID, sponsoring Data Sharing Summits and building OpenSocial apps or perhaps you’ll see me as some whacko, ranting in his blog - which you can easily ignore.
Well that’s how they treated me in the 1980’s - BEFORE - Bill Gates and John Sculley discovered multimedia. Then they called me a genius. Then I had my :15 minutes, was discarded and now it’s starting all over again.
Bubbling up, not taking up too much air, mindshare or time - Joseph Smarr, David Recordon, Kevin Marks, Chris Messina and others have been working on a standard to enable software services to import or export lists of people, called “contact lists” between disparate systems.
What’s makes this standards process different is that they’ve been conspiring with BigCos to get support - even as they were formulating the standard. These APIs are already baked into OpenSocial Rev. 8. They’re basically what Plaxo - is. They’ll be gateways to Microsoft Live Contacts APIs and ways for it to mesh into Yahoo, SixApart, MySpace, Bebo, and all the other major players.
It’s a new way of doing standards - kind of lurking behind the scenes, short circuiting the long drawn out “viral” process - and kind of “cutting to the chase”.
I actually really like that approach to standards creation.
Look for something that is common - like “importing lists of names” and find the best solution for it - which is what Plaxo was doing, and then take that and give it away - which is what Plaxo (at least Joseph) did. They’ve also come up with a ’standard’ schema - which is just fine - no reasont o argue abotu that anymore.
This is also what is happening with the category that Twitter invented and Identi.ca appears to be doing the exact right things in. Change means going beyond teh interests of one company, and take into consideration the benefit of all.
And this best part is that this standard DOESN’T have a logo and barely has a web site. But it has working code and interoperability between Yahoo, Google, Plaxo, SixApart, MySpace and others - day one.
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, Plaxo, Six Apart, Seesmic, JanRain, Skydeck, ShopIt, Current.TV, Interscope Records were all there today - and I bet that 20 otehrs will sign up - right quick now. Then another 50 by October - and a virtual stampede after that.
Watch for huge benefits to end-users, bringing dataportability to real life.
This is the stuff that’s real. Not startup contests, tracking VC investment rate or listening to the same blow hard brag about how smart and rich he is.
Serious kudos go out to all involved. I’m dam proud of you.
The good news for Broadband Mechanics is that ALL of our client’s want it - so I think we’ll be able to demo benefits to end-users by Turkey Day. That’s my bet.
Joeseph Smarr has been using the term Open Stack
Open Stack is a little too general. I use the term 
Welcome Yahoo
Well ladies and gentlemen - that’s the point. Either you support and USE open standards or you create ripoff knockoffs and pretend like they’re open standards but they’re not - they’re YOUR open standards. I hope you see the subtle but important difference.
I don’t know Erik Huggers - have never met the man - and he 
We actually 
I won’t be at IBC, but I will 
And staying on a houseboat on Da Costakade.
I actually really like that approach to standards creation.
