Once in a while I write the odd post philosophical post. This is one, with an applied turn at the end. It is a work in progress; just some early thoughts.
The web is a public place. By that I don't mean shared ownership, a commons where anybody can publish and read content, a space of public deliberation, or a public infrastructure. What I have in mind is related to all of these but is something different.
The web is a public space in the sense it is a shared reference point. It is a world where things (sites and pages) exist in much the same way as in everyday life: Most things that exist do so permanently; can be visited and returned to; can be given directions to (as in 'follow this link to see what I saw'); and can thus be referred to in conversation. This is also the case in most old media (I can always say 'go and read the third page in yesterday's Guardian'), but there are at least three key differences: (i) scale; (ii) references can be followed by just about anyone; and (iii) reference is instantaneous (no need to go to a library). The key enablers are hyperlinks and permalinks. The result is that the web is one large thing, one large annotated canvas that can be referred to by anyone.
This has some practical implications. The web itself, taken as a whole, is the 'content', that which we want to access when we speak of 'having web access'. No individual page, service, site or piece of content will do as a replacement.
It is the failure to see this, and the insistence of seeing the web as a mere means of communication and 'content delivery', that informs many players' failed walled-garden strategies. It doesn't matter how much 'good content' you offer: sure you can make some money, but you are not offering web access; and when someone else does, you will struggle to compete. The demand for web access is not the same as the demand for content or services; and, if asked to choose between the two, consumers could well pick the former. This is not just because the web has more or better content or services; surfing the web is not just a means to an end, it is also an end in itself.
(Aggregates are a special case, but the point remains)
Update 06/08: Scott Karp makes a similar point, but confuses open standards with universal accessibility.
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