I have a very strong conviction that Nostr cannot be captured by big tech at this point.
They can just ignore it.
Unless...
Let's start at the beginning: Nostr's simple design makes small room for attacks on Nostr itself: closed source software, lack of event verification, proprietary APIs rather than querying relays directly, no relay selection in clients... these type of things are trivial to spot.
I also firmly believe that event kinds will in time consolidate and ossify, it's a strong incentive for players in the same industry/area.
Decentralized relay management will get stronger too, as best practices form. We have relay selection on the user level with sane fallbacks/defaults as a starting point. Things will be fine on this front as well I think.
**The biggest threat right now is not doing the hard work to implement quality software with viable business models supporting the projects.**
Big tech has hordes of fiat code monkeys to deliver convenience. They don't have anything else than that though. They cannot do what freedom tech enables.
What is your edge?
Delivering freedom in a way people can receive it: build it up from sane default options gradually towards sovereignty. You can start with convenience but surface the options with care in due time.
This seems to be harder to do than the walled garden model, but actually pays off long-term handsomely: your users will be more educated and thank you for it because you were there when they were in the dark, when they needed you most. They will become your apostles, and network effect might build up.
For people who are afraid of "doing nostr in the wrong way" or "cannot find the exact way to do xyz", consider this:
No client app is profitable yet. Take everything with a grain of salt other than basic OS principles, freedom tech values and NIP01, which are crystal clear.
Use the OS code: look at it, play with it, fork it, think about it. There's no real substitute for that. You can read a million pages of spec, vibe code for ever to fake it till you fail, or go get your hands dirty and master it in no time. Yes, it takes more effort to do, than to consume. Demonstrate Proof of Work.
**Don't let fear guide your decisions! Build in a permissionless way, on a permissionless protocol.**
If you get dragged down arguing on NIPxyz on github or anywhere else rather than building for your target audience, you lose.
You lose because you are relying on futile reassurence instead of passion to deliver value. To ship the future.
Don't ever let them steer your ship.
The only thing you should be afraid of is opportunity cost of the precious time that distracts you from building.
If only a handful of people do this, we will win. Those who read this far might be the ones.
Go _build_ the future you want to see in the world.
