What’s surprising is that anyone is surprised at the manifestation of this strategy in our times, or its consequences — richer hegemonists.

I wonder what it must be like to be a modern-day tinkerer generating solutions with potential value, now knowing full well that it’s likely the value is going to be absconded with by some dominant industrial power. I imagine that the drive to invent is irresistible for some, and that they’ll take their small wages and be happy after the denouement, just to keep working.

Others may see this as one big crap shoot, worth the effort to play even though the odds are ridiculous. The press hype promoting MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, etc., as models for the future of commerce may not have been orchestrated, but it’s certainly done its part to enable these tech-gamble junkies.

The Internet is a big place. There are many, many ways to exploit its potential besides redundant development — in the sense of doing what everyone else is doing, purpose and content notwithstanding. A tad more real originality and less mimicry would suit the situation just fine. Forget “Web 2.0″ and start thinking again of what’s missing in most people’s lives. It’s probably not mashups.

Which begs the question:
What will be its Altamont?

Om Malik did a posting late last week on “Web 2.0: The End of Innocence” which nicely summarized some of these early signals . . .