As Microsoft Build is set to start today, there’s a good profile of Microsoft and Satya Nadella in Bloomberg:

In 2022, OpenAI held demonstrations for senior Microsoft executives of a groundbreaking new model. Over the next several months, groups inside Microsoft tinkered with other ways they might adapt OpenAI’s technology to the daily needs of the modern office worker. One promising prototype called “intelligent recap” would summarize conference calls in Teams. Before Microsoft could release any of it, though, OpenAI built a deceptively simple chat interface around its language engine, and people went nuts.

Until recently, we thought the race was purely to build better AI models. That’s still true, but the real strength is in products. OpenAI doesn’t just have GPT-4.1 and friends, they have a great Mac app, they have Codex, they have memory, they have Sora. When I first tried Sora, what struck me most was not the capabilities but all the work that went into the UI framework.

Microsoft has Copilot, a great name that can wrap together many different models and features. Anthropic has Artifacts, an elegant interface for iterating on code. Apple has a cobbled-together set of unrelated AI features, but at WWDC we’ll see the next phase of their vision.

This morning I was listening to this interview with Ben Stratechery. He talks about how the internet was the bridge from PCs that allowed mobile phones to take off. Likewise, AI will be the bridge to new devices, such as Meta’s glasses and whatever Jony Ive is working on.

I think there are only going to be a handful of companies that stay on the cutting edge of models. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and a second tier from xAI, Meta, maybe a couple of others. But there will be lots of competition around products.

There will be three broad categories and within each one, companies will try to build products that people will work into their lives:

• productivity — writing, presentations, research, coding
• enterprise — meetings, customer support, legal, automation
• life assistant — world knowledge, therapist, language, health

Right now, OpenAI has the lead in productivity. Microsoft in the enterprise. No one that I’ve seen has cracked the life assistant type of product. Apple could excel at this because of trust in privacy, but I’m not sure they can think with a big enough scope to nail it.

Curtis Herbert is back with another Slopes Diaries post, making the argument that Apple’s 30% cut is worth it, but that external payment links will also open new opportunities.

I think the perspective on this topic varies between developers partly based on whether you expect users to randomly discover your app in the App Store, or whether you’re building a service outside the store and the mobile app is just a companion to that. Much of Curtis’s framing is around discovery in the App Store:

Remember, your goal when trying to convert a sale is to try to cause as little friction as possible. Make the user think as little as possible. “Enter your credit card information for this random app to start your free trial” is hardly frictionless compared to IAPs.

There are many advantages to Stripe other than the lower fees. There’s more control and flexibility across the board. Also you get paid daily instead of waiting over a month for Apple to cut a virtual check, as if developers are kids waiting for their monthly allowance.

Apple’s in-app purchase works really well for Slopes. That’s great. For Micro.blog, I’m not convinced there’s much of an advantage. Very few people want to start a new blog and think, “First I’ll search the App Store.”

Developers are in the best position to know what marketing and payment options will work for their app. The whole point of these changes — from the EU’s Digital Markets Act to the judge’s ruling in the Epic trial — is to put the decision back in the hands of developers where it belongs.

Before my talk at EFF Austin last night, I exported a PDF of my slides and asked ChatGPT (o4) to tell me about them. Here’s the chat transcript. It’s fascinating to me because this is without giving the speaker notes to ChatGPT, so it inferred everything from the slide content.

I’ve now uploaded a separate copy of the slides with speaker notes as a PDF. I ran this through ChatGPT and it produces a pretty nice summary, which I’m including below.

The talk was recorded and also includes lots of questions from folks attending.

This presentation titled “Indie microblogging and the fediverse” was delivered by Manton Reece at EFF Austin. It explores the evolution of blogging, the failures of centralized social networks like Twitter, and the alternative vision embodied in platforms like Micro.blog, which Manton founded.

Background and Motivation

• Manton is a long-time Mac, iOS, and web developer.
• Disillusioned by how Twitter restricted third-party developers and turned hostile toward openness and user control.
• Saw the need for a better alternative that supports both microblogging and broader blogging with open standards.

The Rise and Fall of Twitter for Developers

• Twitter started as an open platform but progressively locked down its API.
• Third-party clients like Twitterrific introduced key ideas (e.g. the word “tweet”).
• Over time, Twitter killed features (RSS, API tokens, IFTTT integrations) that made the ecosystem vibrant.
• Manton left Twitter in 2012 due to its toxicity and limitations.

Micro.blog: A Response

• Launched in 2017 via Kickstarter.
• Offers microblogging, photo/video hosting, newsletters, podcasts, custom domains, and more.
• Strong emphasis on open APIs and standards like Micropub, Webmention, WebSub, and ActivityPub.
• Designed to integrate with other platforms like Mastodon, Bluesky, and WordPress.

Fediverse and Interoperability

• Explains how ActivityPub and AT Protocol (Bluesky) function.
• Shows how Micro.blog fetches and syndicates content using RSS, JSON Feed, WebSub, etc.
• Supports POSSE: Post on your own site, syndicate elsewhere (e.g., Mastodon, Threads, Flickr, etc.).
• Highlights the architectural differences between Mastodon (federated servers) and Bluesky (PDS + relays + app views).

Principles of Micro.blog

• Minimalism: no likes, no follower counts, no algorithms, no ads.
• Focus on personal ownership through domain names.
• Posts are just HTML and Markdown — simple, durable, portable.
• Encourages a quiet, human-centered space on the web.

Vision

• Micro.blog is framed as a part of an “open garden,” in contrast to the closed “walled gardens” of platforms like Twitter or Facebook.
• Emphasizes user control, interoperability, and humane design.
• Seeks to bring back the spirit of early web publishing, updated with modern protocols and tools.