Thanks to my good friend, Eric Clark, for leading me to this Time article entitled Who Will Rule The New Internet? The article sums up very well the jockeying for position that is going on amongst Apple, Google, and Facebook.

My Thoughts:

Apple is fantastic.  I love my Macbook Pro and am salivating over the upcoming iPhone the second.  However, something rubs me the wrong way with iTunes.  For someone who works with on-demand software, it annoys me to have to transfer my iTunes library from the old Powerbook to the new MacBook.  Shouldn’t there be some sort of online password to unlock the music and automatically pull it all into the new computer? And why am I limited to 5 computer licenses with MY music?!?!

Google is so ingrained in my life that it functions as both a noun and a verb.  When I need to look up pizza in Greenwood, IN? – google maps.  Stay on the same page with my partners at our start-up while keeping on top of my current job? – google calender.  And don’t even get me started talking about Google labs.  However, it makes me nervous how much information they have about me.  Not that I have anything to hide, but I have read Orwell’s 1984.

Facebook is near and deal to me because I have been on-board with the social network since the beginning.  Before my boss, coworkers, and dentist joined the party, I was stalking people from Ball State who I had passed on campus every day for 3 years and still did not know their names.  However, despite Facebook’s new paradigm shift to openness, I am struggling to picture myself using it for more than staying in touch with friends.  Maybe I’ll make a few purchases based on friend recommendations.  But having the ability to throw sheep on friends via the new open platform is just not adding that much value to my life.