Open.  Or Closed.

This has become a big question for web technology.  Opening up your source or API to the public can reap huge dividends.  Just look at Twitter and all the news and apps and traffic it has.  (It also has great content, but let’s have that as a given.)  Closing your source or API can have quality control benefits and keeps your tech where you want it.  Think Apple and their secrecy.  Great innovations.  Pros and cons on both sides.

For me, I’m more on the open side.  Here’s my take.

Using my Twitter example, its growth has shot up in recent months.  Personally, I think it is because of its openness.  You could use any number of apps to use Twitter.  You can control your experience.  If you like the web version, use that.  If you like an app, use that.  Switch as you feel led.

Now, I’m not sure being totally open all of the time is the way to go.  Apple obviously is doing okay, and they keep a tight lid on their advancements.  The iPhone, the iPod, iTunes, and (oh yeah) their great computers.  They do open their code up so people can create programs to use on their hardware (the App Store, Objective-C, Cocoa, etc).

So, what do you think?  Open or Closed?  Or Both?  Or some better way?