I point out that while many companies have sought to be the new Microsoft, discovering their equivalent to Win32 as the one ring, there is another model, exemplified by Linux, open source software, and the open standards of the internet. "Small pieces loosely joined" is a great name for this architecture. It's the current architecture of the web, but will it remain that way? Chris' post is a great reminder that the future may not be like the past, and that we need to work hard to maintain interoperability as Web 2.0 matures.
