The Open Sourcing of Clark & Byrnes
Yes, I know this news might surprise many of you — it’s been an unexpected journey for us too — but it aligns perfectly with Ulixee’s long-term roadmap.
Blake and I started working full-time on Ulixee nearly six years ago. Our kickoff breakfast was June 12, 2018, at The Silver Skillet in Atlanta, Georgia.
When Tim Berners-Lee launched the web in 1989, it was meant to be an open, collaborative network. Its community-driven spirit was exemplified by the “View Source” option in every browser menu. The ethos of the early web was that data should be used, reused, linked and shared.
Today, although the “View Source” can still be found in your browser, the collaborative-spirit has largely disappeared. The internet is now dominated by advertising giants whose business models maximize viewership by stifling competitors and promoting walled gardens. The web has transformed from a collaborative space into a battleground of competitive moats.
In the early 2000s, a movement began to reopen the web, encouraging data mashups, interoperability, and semantic markup. Though it began with energy, it eventually fizzled due to conflicting technical, social, and economic struggles.
