In the July/August issue of MIT’s Technology Review magazine, author and Harvard professor Jonathan Zittrain posited that the future of the web would include a return to closed systems. “The future of the Web may be its past: an abandonment of open standards and services […] and a return to the gated communities,” he said. In order to avoid this future, according to Zittrain, developers must pressure the makers of the web’s future platforms to “abandon their ability to kill any apps at any time for any reason.” In that respect, could it be that the makers of the popular new application platforms — like Facebook, MySpace, Google, Apple, and Salesforce.com — should follow in the footsteps of Microsoft?
在《麻省理工学院的技术评论 》杂志的7月/ 8月号中，作者兼哈佛大学教授乔纳森·齐特雷特( Jonathan Zittrain) 认为，网络的未来将包括回归封闭系统。 他说：“网络的未来可能是过去：放弃开放标准和服务[…]并重返封闭社区。” 为了避免这种未来，Zittrain认为，开发人员必须向网络未来平台的制造商施加压力，要求其“放弃出于任何原因随时终止任何应用程序的能力”。 在这方面，是否可能是流行的新应用程序平台的制造商(如Facebook，MySpace，Google，Apple和Salesforce.com)应效仿Microsoft的脚步？
In the same Technology Review article, Salesforce.com founder and CEO Marc Benioff says that the web’s future “will all be about developer empowerment.” Benioff notes that the ability to “create and run powerful business applications in the cloud … will change the economics of the software industry forever.”
在同一篇技术评论文章中，Salesforce.com创始人兼首席执行官马克·贝尼奥夫(Marc Benioff)表示，网络的未来“将全都取决于开发人员的能力”。 贝尼奥夫指出，“在云中创建和运行强大的业务应用程序……将永远改变软件行业的经济状况。”
Indeed, the web’s new platforms are ushering in a new era of application development and deployment, prompting some to wonder if the web will replace the traditional computer operating system. However, along with the drastically lowered barriers to entry to create and deploy applications, developers may ultimately be sacrificing true control of their applications. And that might be a bad thing for users as well.
确实，Web的新平台迎来了应用程序开发和部署的新时代，促使一些人怀疑Web是否会取代传统的计算机操作系统。 但是，随着创建和部署应用程序的准入门槛大大降低，开发人员最终可能会牺牲对其应用程序的真正控制。 对于用户而言，这也可能是一件坏事。
As Zittrain told Newsweek in May, the new platforms are essentially walled gardens where the platform creators have ultimate control. Platforms like Facebook’s, Google’s, and Apple’s iPhone, are “retaining the right just in case they need it to kill any app they don’t like and to control the flow of data,” he said.
正如Zittrain在5月对《新闻周刊》说的那样，新平台本质上是围墙花园，平台创造者拥有最终控制权。 他说，诸如Facebook，Google和Apple的iPhone之类的平台“保留了权利，以防万一他们需要它来杀死他们不喜欢的任何应用程序并控制数据流。”
Through historical accident, we’ve ended up with a global network that pretty much allows anybody to communicate with anyone else at any time. Devices could be reprogrammed by them at any time, including code written by other people, so you don’t have to be a nerd to get the benefits of reprogramming it. [But] this is an historical accident. Now, I see a movement away from that framework–even though it doesn’t feel like a movement away. [For example,] an iPhone can only be changed by Steve Jobs or soon, with the software development kit, by programmers that he personally approves that go through his iPhone apps store. Or whimsical applications that run on the Facebook platform or the new Google apps. These are controllable by their vendors in ways that Bill Gates never dreamed of controlling Windows applications. — Jonathan Zittrain
经过历史性的事故，我们最终建立了一个全球网络，几乎可以使任何人随时与任何人进行通信。 可以随时通过其他方式对设备进行重新编程，包括其他人编写的代码，因此您不必为使重新编程而受益。 [但是]这是历史性的事故。 现在，我看到一个运动远离该框架，即使它不觉得自己像一个运动的路程。 [例如，]史蒂夫·乔布斯(Steve Jobs)或不久以后，只有软件开发工具包，他亲自批准的程序员才能通过他的iPhone应用程序商店来更改iPhone。 或在Facebook平台上运行的异想天开的应用程序或新的Google应用程序。 它们可以由供应商以Bill Gates从未梦想过的控制Windows应用程序的方式来控制。 —乔纳森·齐特雷恩
Indeed, Steve Jobs today confirmed the existence of the controversial “kill switch” that will allow Apple to kill any iPhone application it had already approved. However, the fact that they control which apps even make it through their approval process and can be installed on the phone (at least on phones that haven’t been unlocked) illustrates Zittrain’s point on its own.
实际上，乔布斯(Steve Jobs)今天证实了有争议的“杀手开关” 的存在 ，该杀手开关将使苹果公司可以杀死已经批准的任何iPhone应用程序。 但是，他们可以控制哪些应用程序甚至可以通过批准程序完成并可以安装在手机上(至少在尚未解锁的手机上)，这一事实说明了Zittrain的观点。
On Windows, OS X, or Linux, for example, users have control over what applications are added or removed. But with the new breed of web-based platforms, the platform owner has complete control and can theoretically remove any application at will. In many ways this makes sense — in a cloud computing environment, a malicious app could have a drastic negative effect on other applications running on the platform in ways that it might not if a user were to install a bad application on non-web-based platform. But it also creates a tension between application developers and platform owners, and gives users the feeling that they don’t actually own the applications they’re using.
例如，在Windows，OS X或Linux上，用户可以控制要添加或删除的应用程序。 但是，使用新型的基于Web的平台，平台所有者可以完全控制，并且理论上可以随意删除任何应用程序。 从许多方面讲，这是有道理的-在云计算环境中，恶意应用程序可能会对平台上运行的其他应用程序产生严重的负面影响，而如果用户要在非基于Web的系统上安装错误的应用程序则可能不会平台。 但这也会在应用程序开发人员和平台所有者之间造成压力，并给用户一种感觉，他们实际上并不拥有所使用的应用程序。
“In this new environment, the developers are at the mercy of the platform owners and while it’s not the end of the world, I think this is a riskier environment to run a business,” wrote Nick O’Neill in a recent post at Social Times. “While the shift to the cloud is ongoing and will continue to move forward, the relational logistics between businesses and platform owners still need to be worked through.”
尼克·奥尼尔(Nick O'Neill)在最近的《社交 》杂志上写道：“在这种新环境中， 开发人员受平台所有者的摆布，虽然这不是世界末日，但我认为这是经营业务的风险较高的环境。” 时代 。 “尽管正在进行向云的转变，并且将继续向前发展，但企业和平台所有者之间的关系物流仍需要解决。”
O’Neill isn’t quite as pessimistic as Zittrain, but they’re both expressing a very legitimate concern: if the future of the web is closed platforms, that ultimately won’t be a good thing for the web. And Zittrain notes that it’s not just the platforms we’ve mentioned in this article so far. A whole new wave of web connected devices are introducing new, closed platforms: the Xbox, Tivo, etc. As the computing moves off of our computers we’re increasingly moving toward an environment where a few platform providers are the ultimate gatekeepers brokering our experience.
O'Neill并不像Zittrain那样悲观，但是他们俩都表达了非常合理的担忧：如果网络的未来是封闭的平台，那最终对网络来说将不是一件好事。 Zittrain指出，到目前为止，不仅仅是我们在本文中提到的平台。 崭新的网络连接设备浪潮引入了新的封闭平台：Xbox，Tivo等。随着计算从计算机上移开，我们越来越趋向于一个环境，在该环境中，少数平台提供商是我们经验的最终看门人。
Image via Divine Harvester.
图片来自Divine Harvester 。
翻译自: https://www.sitepoint.com/will-closed-platforms-ruin-the-web/
