Owning pipelines, people, products, or even intellectual property is no longer the key to success. Openness is.

Just heard the best word in the English language: benign. (And I don't need to see that doctor again for five years.)

Do what you do best, and link to the rest

I'd love if Google ran my cable or phone company. Instead of making their businesses out of telling us what we can't do, GT&T would recognize the benefit of helping us do what we want to do: use the internet more and create more of our own stuff. Google might even figure out how to make connectivity ad-supported and free. Sadly, though, I think Google knows what it is and won't expand into other industries, even if it would be good at running a cable or energy or phone company.

The industries closest to Google - media, advertising, and entertainment - are affected first. But the avalanche that is Google and the internet will overtake all industries and institutions - carmakers, bankers, universities, government - as we undergo a fundamental restructuring of the economy and society. Every industry and institution would be wise to understand the need for handing over control, for transparency, for collaboration and speed.

Owning pipelines, people, products, or even intellectual property is no longer the key to success. Openness is.

The only sane response to change is to find the opportunity in it.