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In the web technology world, one hot story of late has been the battle between Ning and WidgetLaboratory.

We're going to talk about how this battle is a microcosm of all the stuff we talk about regarding the world beyond the nation state (if you're new to this site, see this post, this post, and this collection of posts for an introduction to this topic).

But first, an introduction to Ning and WidgetLaboratory, and what's been going on with them:

1. Ning is a company that lets you setup up your own social network (your own site like MySpace or Facebook, where you can develop your own community according to your own rules...or at least the rules Ning lets you play by).

2. A key part of Ning's strategy is to act as a platform. This means they allow other software developers to write applications that can run on Ning. If you use Facebook and have installed a Facebook app, you know what this means. A popular application on Facebook was Scrabulous, which allowed you to play Scrabble (a type of board game) with your friends on Facebook (this has since been taken down due to some intellectual property rights issues). The business rationale behind trying to become a platform is that the platform that has all the cool apps will be the platform that wins. Students of technology will know that the platform battle of yesteryear was Microsoft vs. Apple; Microsoft managed to get more software developers to create software that ran on its operating system (and thus could be used by anyone using a Microsoft computer), which is one of the leading reasons why Microsoft was more successful than Apple.

3. WidgetLaboratory is a company that makes applications that run on Ning. In other words, if you created a social network on Ning, you could incorporate some WidgetLaboratory applications that you thought were cool and useful for your users into your social network (WidgetLaboratory charged money for this, much like how a software developer charges for their software).

4. Naturally, application developers like WidgetLaboratory and platforms like Ning have a tense but complementary relationship. Nobody wants to be on a platform that doesn't have any applications, just like in the pre-Internet days nobody wanted to use a computer that couldn't run any software. There are issues, though, with regards to who "owns" the customer: the application developer or the platform? And if an application is popular, shouldn't the platform just copy it, include it as a default part of their platform (much like how computers with Microsoft Windows often come with Microsoft Office software)? Platforms can then modify themselves to determine which applications can run on them, and which cannot.

So that's the background information. Hope it makes sense, if you are not a technical person I know this can seem very abstract and confusing. As always you are welcome and encouraged to ask questions in the comments below, I will do my best to answer them. For truthers especially, I feel it is important that we understand this stuff, because technology can be both our best friend and our worst enemy; our friend in the sense that the Internet has helped us more than anything else, our enemy in the sense that a high tech grid is being built to enslave us (the surveillance cameras, RFID, and global databases), and thus we are better prepared to defend our freedom if we have a better understanding of technology and how it can be used to create the world of liberty and prosperity that we know is our right and our destiny.

Okay. So back to WidgetLaboratory and Ning. Ning recently gave WidgetLaboratory the "death penalty" -- meaning its applications no longer work on Ning (technology blog TechCrunch -- which we don't like, as I explained in the song I wrote about TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, has done a decent job covering this issue, here, here, and here). To give you a parallel you might find easier to understand, imagine if you were a software developer who made a music or video editing application that ran on Apple computers. Then imagine if Apple one day said sorry, we're not letting your software run on our computers anymore. Or, to use an example that is less technical but still relevant, imagine if you're on MySpace, and suddenly MySpace decides it doesn't like you and deletes your profile.

You can see how that'd be a problem for you.

Ning said that WidgetLaboratory's applications created performance issues, and user security issues. Whether or not this is true is debateable; more importantly, it is subjective (meaning what constitutes "performance issues" in one person's mind may not in another's).

I am not assigning blame one way or another. The point I am trying to make, though, is that this is a governance issue, and Ning, as well as virtually every other platform out there, does not really have a governance system in place to deal with these issues. Right now, if Ning wants you off, you're off. End of story. No trial by jury, no appeal, nothing.

Like the United States of America after 9/11, Ning has no Constitution.

Now, as we discussed earlier in this post, the application developers are the real scarcity. In other words, no one is going to use a platform that doesn't have any applications, just like how people in the pre-Internet days were less inclined to use Macintosh computers when all the cool software applications ran on Microsoft Windows (save educational and artistic applications, which Macintosh specifically focused on catering to so as to gain dominance of a niche, which they could then leverage to expand their market share in other areas).

So, as platforms realize they have to compete for applications, they will have to become more friendly and "fair" to application developers. I believe this will result in a world where application developers essentially create a government of sorts that manages the platform they operate on. In other words, the application developers will in essence own the platform. We've referred to this concept repeatedly before as "the edge owning the core." See our collection of posts on this topic.

Furthermore, I think this concept will spread in non-technical ways; for instance, I think the social networks of the future will have some sort of democratic component to them (i.e. imagine if you could vote on MySpace regarding what new features they added, whether or not you could customize your profile to include flashing images that cause epileptic seizures, rules regarding posting pornography, etc). Let's just hope Diebold isn't counting the votes in social networks (see our posts on election fraud).

What All This Crap Means for Truthers

It is critical to realize how powerful platforms are likely to become. The platform(s) you use will likely have the following:

+ your search history (because many people will end up doing their searching from their platform)
+ your shopping history
+ your communications history
+ your buddy list and all your contacts information
+ your content consumption (i.e. what you read, what videos you watch, etc)

Eventually this data will be integrated with RFID technology and will be incorporated in your handheld device, where it will become an even bigger part of your life. If virtual currencies are incorporated into this technology, which I expect them to be, then it will end up being eerily similar to Revelations 13:16-18 in the Bible -- you won't be able to buy or sell within your social network if your handheld is turned off or your profile is deleted. In this sense, having your social networking profile deleted will be a really serious thing -- almost like being imprisoned.

This will effectively make platforms more important than nations, and why I believe platforms will end up essentially replacing the nation-state for many of our needs (see our previous post on this topic).

I'm sure many people, particularly those who have a very dogmatic sense of Christianity, will not want this world. I'll be writing posts in the future to address many of the concerns that such folks will have, as many of their concerns are very valid (which is why I bring the issue up). I assure you what I am proposing is not "satanic" or evil, and is actually closer to universal ideals of liberty and prosperity -- but I welcome you to be skeptical and ask questions. The one key point I want to make is that data portability -- the ability to take your data stream and plug into other platforms -- is the saving grace, and what ensures that the personal profile does not end up enslaving us as "the mark of the beast," but rather liberates us from corporations and nations that would try to use our data to "hold us hostage." I'll elaborate on this in a future blog post.

In sum, if we have a proper understanding of technology, I believe we will see how these tools will lead to the world beyond the nation state, the open source economy, and ultimately, the freedom that awaits us once the New World Order is defeated.

So, if you end up talking about the Ning/WidgetLaboratory conflict, be sure to tie in how it relates to Biblical prophecy and the end of the nation-state. Seriously!

Other Articles Around the Web on Ning vs. WidgetLaboratory

Sharing at Work: WidgetLaboratory Continues to Air Ning's Secrets
Ning Blocks WidgetLaboratory (Geek News Central)
http://businessshrink.biz/psychology...ess-gets-pers/