Amateur or professional?
The remarkable Clive Thompson has an article in New York magazine about bloggers making a living by blogging. It's hard work. They're professionals. Bloggers may have started out as amateurs, but things have changed — he suggests you need a publicist. (It's true that I would like to get OneWebDay on Oprah.)
Now, you could see the emergence of the telco/government approach to the net as the entrance of professionals. Sure, all you amateurs have had your day, but it's time for the professionals to take care of things. These are people who don't care passionately about the potential of the net — but don't have to. They know how to make it work (they think) efficiently.
When being a soldier became a professional pursuit (shortly before the First World War), things really changed. On the one hand, the army became much better-trained and better at shooting. On the other hand, many many more people died.
Professionalism may not be a good thing for the world as a whole in all fields. Amateurs may bumble, but their experimental nature means that unexpected (and sometimes valuable!) things happen.
The professional net would be very different from the one we have now. Maybe the amateur net will persist, even if/when the professionals enter in – it's hard to say. Amateur bloggers: we're probably here to stay. Even if no one pays us a dime.
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