Hiswai. Your Personal Web

Regular readers of Recurrent Patterns know that I write about what's wrong with technology and the patterns which I observe. Critiquing is the easy part. Coming up with new and better ways of doing things is difficult. Here, my dear reader, is my view on what's wrong with the Internet today and how to change it.

After reading, if you think I am wrong, let me know. Can't wait to hear why and happy to debate it. If you think that I am correct, please share with others.

Have you noticed that the Internet is no longer working for you?

Many years ago, before the Internet, a group of enthusiasts started building computers for their own use and enjoyment. They weren’t sure what the future was going to be, but they had big dreams and crazy ideas.

It was the opposite of what computers were then. Expensive big mainframes, hidden from everyone with tightly controlled access.

Then in came Microsoft. That company exists because IBM didn't see how something so small as a Personal Computer (PC) could ever compete with a mainframe. That mistake unleashed the era of Personal Computing.

At the beginning, the computer was a thing that was not connected to anything else. Everything on the computer was yours.

Connectivity was added and like single cell organisms, these computers started talking to each other.

Then we got bigger computers, upsized PCs, which were turned into servers. Now we could share files.

Shortly after that, we had software which could run on the user’s PC and access the files. Eventually, it started running on the server. We got the client-server architecture.

This client-server architecture started to oscillate, depending on the server size, PC performance and connectivity, as the load and the data flow adjusted to achieve optimal performance.

Then - thanks to the military R&D - we got the Internet in 1983. Instead of talking to a server in your server room, your PC could connect over this new network to many servers across the globe.

That brought us email and next, the World Wide Web. Using an Internet Browser, one could easily access documents using just their address. Before we knew it, the browser also became a client; and servers on the Internet followed the familiar client server-architecture. It felt amazing, but it was this pattern repeating itself.

The more content we got access to, the more difficult it was to find it.

So, the era of search engines came. These were the days of the likes of Lycos and Yahoo. And then out of nowhere came Google. It offered us a deal with a devil: 'You give us your content for free and we might, just might, allow your content be discovered by others.'

But there was a catch. 'To get preferential treatment, you can pay us to show your content before anyone else’s. To offset your spend, you can also place our ads next to your content.'

We gave Google all of it. Our content and our money.

And then we got introduced to another word: SaaS. It first meant Software as a Service. With SaaS, there was no longer any need to build or buy any application on your own. All that became just a service. Pay as you go and leave anytime you want.

But then we got another kind of SaaS - Social as a Service. There too, we made a deal with the devil. We got a place where for free, we could socialize with billions of new friends.

In exchange for our thoughts, we got the honour of being exposed to all of the ads.

As an individual, you were worth about $32. In aggregate, billions. That's why you were encouraged to invite all your friends to join.

Somehow, along the way we lost the initial part and promise - Personal Computing. There is nothing personal anymore. At best, you are promised Personalization. You might own the device which you are using to access all the services but everything is now back on the mainframe, which we now call the Cloud.

And the companies which benefited most?

Google has been declared a monopoly twice. Facebook is on trial for the same thing. And the proponent of Personal Computing, Microsoft, was fighting the same and it is hard at work, building the Mainframe.

In the last few years, we got a new story to contemplate. We got AI. A marketing term, which originally was used in Sci-Fi and academia. Somehow it escaped the confines of the research labs and uncontrollably started spreading through the world. And since it is an undefined term, it allows for everyone to create their own narrative.

It makes some rich. For others, it is a promised paradise. And for the rest, it is the end of the world.

But what AI didn't change is that it is following the same pattern. Under the disguise of Personalization, it is on its way to further remove any parts of Personal Computing. It wants to be your search engine, it wants to be your social network, it wants to be your digital you.

Yes, another deal with the devil is coming for your signature. It will tell you what to think, and it will tell you what to do. It does provide a comfort of certainty and its own truth. The makers are creating an illusion that you will be in control, despite the fact that they themselves don't know how it works.

It is a dead end.

It is time to restart the cycle. It’s time to go—not back to, but forward with—the idea of Personal Computing. Personal Computing which would unleash innovation the same way as when Personal Computers arrived on everyone's desk.

It is time to have direct access to information. Full control of your own social network. Full control of your own data. And an opportunity for anyone to build applications which can be distributed on any device and contribute to the promise of Personal Computing.

It’s time to have a place where you can keep your content, your documents, images, or music. A place which searches the Web for information on your own terms. It connects to others and it allows you to exchange ideas in one-to-one, one-to-few or one-to-many manner. Under your control with no outside monitoring. And it does it regardless whether you are connected to the Web or not. It does it on your behalf, all the time.

Imagine a place where under your terms and controls you can be approached - or not - by companies with their offers of goods and services.

Your Personal Web can exist on any device. Companies or individuals will again compete to build innovative hardware and applications.

It is time for your Personal Web. It is time for Hiswai.