WeChat’s world

I don't know if that's actually a good thing. In general, I prefer native apps (real apps) to web apps; in particular, I trust an open-source application I compiled myself far more than I do some random website.

Unfortunately, I trust the random website more than I do a closed-source, 'free' mobile app.

So it's a bit of a pickle.

Long-long term, I'd like to see more free software on mobile devices, and more simple HTML web apps.

"Among all its services, it is perhaps its promise of a cashless economy, a recurring dream of the internet age..."

I will correct that a cashless economy is a recurring dream of central bankers and their more fervent supporters, like "The economist" or Keynesians or whatever.

I prefer the old model in which companies compete against each other instead of having a panopticon company that knows all your private conversations, control all your money transactions, knows when you are, who you are with and by the way, censors you, etc.

When I have been(living) in China I came to the realization that central planning is a retarded idea, responsible for China 5 century standstill. You really appreciate freedom when you have lost it.

But it seems central planning is all the rage now. We have to let "expert" economist academics to tell us what to do with our money, forget the open web to become citizens of facebook (or Google or Microsoft) land, and let those companies control our computers, so we don't watch videos or books that panopticon does not give us rights to access, and copy dictatorship regimes in our policies because people in power envy it.

it seems every month we get an submitted article about how 'inclusive' and 'integrated' wechat is. nobody ever remembers that wechat is a result of government/state relationship, (unfair) shutting out of all foreign competition, tech monopoly, and lack of credit card use. Nevermind the downsides of having one app

1.) lack of choices

2.) pricing gouging

3.) monitoring

4.) lack of product innovation

5.) censorship

naturally the big US tech companies would love if the user only used their one single app. but thank god there are choices in the western world.

As a thought experiment, imagine a bird cage that gets larger as a bird approaches its sides. Even if you put a bird that migrates in this cage, eventually the cage would reach some max size where cage size > maximum flight range of the bird.

If the cage is so large that the bird doesn't try to escape it, does the bird care that it's in a cage? Is there really a difference between the cage and freedom?

You can't get the average person to use other products by promising something like "freedom", there needs to be something concrete outside the cage to get them to leave it. Products like WeChat are like this imaginary cage, growing to encompass everything that the users want. From the point of view of the user it might as well not be a cage, because there's nothing left outside of it for them besides a benefit they haven't (not yet) seen value in.

If you really want them to leave one monolithic service for a smattering of smaller ones there needs to be a seriously compelling reason that each of the smaller ones bring to the table, "freedom" isn't going to cut it

People are developing Wechat apps exclusively for use inside Wechat, and using Wechat-specific APIs. There's no chance whatsoever of the built-for-Wechat app ecosystem somehow killing Wechat.