Project 2 - The internet

Based on the article: The Web Is Dead: Long Live The Internet

I don't really agree with the premise of this article, the web is still well and alive, not even mortally injured or sick in my opinion and I can see the web staying alive as time goes on.

As to what's written in the article itself... it's rather silly, in my opinion, to try to point the blame at either "us" or "them" (meaning consumers or corporations). For several reasons, first off: it's like writing a eulogy for someone who's alive and blaming someone for their death. Second, the consumer/corporation relationship is too complex to simply say either one is solely responsible for any change. If people didn't want it, corporations wouldn't make it, and if corporations didn't think they could get people to want it they wouldn't make it. Often times, consumers give some sort of feedback on some product that corporations try to take advantage of and sell (i.e. hey this is nice, but it would be cool if...).

The distinction being drawn in the article is that of: people use the internet, but are moving away from browsers. The blaming difference is why this is going on. The writer giving the opinion of we are to blame, Chris Anderson, primarily argues that the reason for the web "dying" is that smaller app-based things fit into our daily lives better. The writer giving the opinion of we are to blame, Michael Wolff, primarily argues that the reason for the paradigm shift towards apps over the web as we know (knew perhaps) it, is about making money. Of course, because of how capitalism works companies would do their best to make money, but they alone can not kill the web. In particular, there are many aspects of the web that have nothing to do with profit at all, such as the many sites devoted to Linux. Linux is a term used to describe many pieces of freeware (Ubuntu etc.) that are worked on by just anyone who has a mind to. The graph showing a supposed decline in the web over time has a significant issue in it. Whilst it may be true that a smaller amount of internet traffic is used on websites, it should be remembered that the number of people on the internet back in 1990 (when the graph starts) is significantly lower than that in 2010 (when the graph ends), ergo, it is not really representative in how much the web is used except as a comparison to other mediums and it would not surprise me in the least if the amount of web traffic taken by itself shows an increase over most of that time period, instead of the sharp decline that particular graph shows.

Though both articles bring up valid points and ideas about what is going on with the internet market so to speak, it is silly to consider the web dead, by any stretch of the imagination.