I recently wrote a post about the open nature of Twitter and why I'm long on its future. I know it's easier to write "horse race" stories about who's signing up more users, raising more funding or who's "hot" lately. But something more nuanced is at hand that is worth debating - is the future of the Internet & global communications more open or more closed. Twitter is open. No, not just the fact that you Tweet publicly versus privately, but they're open in letting their Tweet stream flow into other products & services. They're an open feed. It is open also in the same way that Google is open. Google started as a place where you came to be taken via links to other people's websites. I know many of you don't remember the context, but that was heresy when Google started. Google was duuumb. Sending traffic to other websites, ha! The rule of thumb then was "stickiness" - remember that? Get people to your website and never let them leave. Clooosed. That's what AOL was. A "walled garden." This article will argue that openness is an under-valued virtue in technology & politics but that with patience wins in the end. Read more to find out why ...