July 7th, 2008
Identi.ca fires pure open source against Twitter
Are pure open source principles, by themselves, enough to lend a start-up traction in the market?
Identi.ca hopes so. The Montreal-based start-up is offering the micro-blogging functionality of Twitter under the Affero GPL license. The software also responds to something called the Open Microblogging specification — the first to do so.
The software also supports the OpenID spec and offers a Creative Commons license for all content — although you wonder why given what passes for micro-blog content. (I searched for images on micro-blogging — this was at a Physics site. Wonders of the Web.)
In theory the new spec should allow users of sites like Twitter to twit other sites, but when you’re the first to set a spec it’s hard to call it a standard. In theory the AGPL gives users more freedom, and a greater level of obligation, than any other online license. But few projects use it and Google hates it.
So we’re left with the standard questions:
- Will the Identi.ca software based on PEAR, PHP and XMPP, scale better than Twitter’s Ruby-based system?
- Will it get a chance — how many people really want to micro-blog?
Dave Rosenberg asks why he can’t buy himself out of the Identi.ca AGPL but he has more money than I do.
My own view is that Twitter’s initial success may be blinding us to the real purpose of micro-blogging, which was seen during the SXSW Zuckerberg interview.
Micro-blogging is best at conventions, meetings and other gatherings. It’s shared IM, instant texting, with channels created on-the-fly. With better mobile Internet devices — iPhones and their competitors — any public meeting can have organized chatter and background noise. Conclusions can be reached before people leave the room.
There is a place for instant conventional wisdom. There is plenty of time for this niche to develop. So I don’t think Identi.ca is too late to this market. In some ways it may be too early, because Dave is also making an important point.
Everyone needs a business model. Even if they use the Affero GPL license.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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