The Client-Server Lie

In all the talk about network neutrality, and the Internet generally, there is a big lie told by the media. (What, can't do a little kitty-cat blogging on a Wednesday?

It's a lie so big most don't even know they are telling it.

It's the client-server myth.

That is, it's assumed that we're all spending all our time getting big content from big Web sites. That we're all just clients to big servers, as we're passive consumers of TV.

Nonsense.

Most users spend most of their time looking at, reacting to, or creating work for or with other users. The Internet is a client-client network, without hierarchy. It has been implemented by the Bells as client-server, with less upstream bandwidth than upstream, but most offices, colleges, and companies offer two-way synchronous links, not the crap called "broadband" by the Bells.

YouTube is a perfect example of this mistake. Click to see why.

NBC has made a deal with YouTube. NBC will buy ads, YouTube will offer clips of NBC shows on the site. NBC won't even label all its stuff (hoping we'll think it's not from them?)

Good for YouTube. Good (maybe) for NBC. But here's the point. Most YouTube content isn't viewed on YouTube. Most YouTube content is linked from some other site (a blog like this one, perhaps). And of course most of the "most valuable" content doesn't come from big "content companies" like NBC either. It comes from ordinary individuals.

YouTube is just an intermediary. We're talking here of client-to-client communications. And it's very easy to bypass YouTube by simply posting your video somewhere else, then pointing to it.

Nothing against YouTube. They're following in the path of so many others -- Google, eBay, Blogger. It's all about enabling client-client communications, there's nothing client-server about it. Servers are simply used to store the bandwidth and storage needed by clients, by ordinary people.

The Internet belongs to the edge, not the center.

It should be built out that way.