I often give Google a lot of shit for shutting down services whenever they're bored, hire a new executive, or face a three-day weekend. The company seems institutionally incapable of standing behind the majority of the products they launch for longer than a KPI cycle. But when the company does decide that something is pivotal to the business, it's an entirely different story. And that's the tale of YouTube: The King of Internet Archives (Video Edition).
I've just revived my YouTube channel after realizing just how often video has become my go-to for learning. This entire Linux adventure I've gotten myself into started by watching YouTube creators like ThePrimeagen, Typecraft, and Bread on Penguins. I learned about mechanical keyboards from Hipyo Tech. Devoured endless mini PC reviews from Level1Techs and Robtech. Oh, and took a side quest into retro gaming handhelds with Retro Game Corps.
But it was when putting together the playlists for my own channel that YouTube's royal role in internet archival really stood out. Like with the original Rails Demo from 19 years ago(!), the infamous talk at Startup School from 2009, or my very first RailsConf keynote from 2006. You'd be hard-pressed to find any video content on the internet from those days anywhere else. I notice that with podcast appearances from even just a few years ago that have gone missing already. Decentralization is wonderful in many ways, but it's very much subject to link rot and disappearing content.
I love how you can pull in videos from other channels onto your own page as well. I've gathered up a bunch of the many podcast appearances I've done, and even dedicated an entire playlist to the 69(!!) clips from the Lex Fridman interview. The majority of the RailsConf and Rails World keynotes are on a list. So is the old On Writing Software Well series that I keep meaning to bring back.
When you're working in small tech, it's really easy to become so jaded with big tech that you become ideologically blind to the benefits they do bring. I find no inconsistency in cheering much of the antitrust agenda against Google while also celebrating their work on Chrome or their stewardship of YouTube. Any company as large as Google is bound to be full of contradictions, ambitions, and behaviors. We ought to have the capacity to cheer for the good parts and boo at the bad parts without feeling like frauds.
So today, I choose to cheer for YouTube. It's an international treasure of learning, enthusiasm, and discovery.
I've just revived my YouTube channel after realizing just how often video has become my go-to for learning. This entire Linux adventure I've gotten myself into started by watching YouTube creators like ThePrimeagen, Typecraft, and Bread on Penguins. I learned about mechanical keyboards from Hipyo Tech. Devoured endless mini PC reviews from Level1Techs and Robtech. Oh, and took a side quest into retro gaming handhelds with Retro Game Corps.
But it was when putting together the playlists for my own channel that YouTube's royal role in internet archival really stood out. Like with the original Rails Demo from 19 years ago(!), the infamous talk at Startup School from 2009, or my very first RailsConf keynote from 2006. You'd be hard-pressed to find any video content on the internet from those days anywhere else. I notice that with podcast appearances from even just a few years ago that have gone missing already. Decentralization is wonderful in many ways, but it's very much subject to link rot and disappearing content.
I love how you can pull in videos from other channels onto your own page as well. I've gathered up a bunch of the many podcast appearances I've done, and even dedicated an entire playlist to the 69(!!) clips from the Lex Fridman interview. The majority of the RailsConf and Rails World keynotes are on a list. So is the old On Writing Software Well series that I keep meaning to bring back.
When you're working in small tech, it's really easy to become so jaded with big tech that you become ideologically blind to the benefits they do bring. I find no inconsistency in cheering much of the antitrust agenda against Google while also celebrating their work on Chrome or their stewardship of YouTube. Any company as large as Google is bound to be full of contradictions, ambitions, and behaviors. We ought to have the capacity to cheer for the good parts and boo at the bad parts without feeling like frauds.
So today, I choose to cheer for YouTube. It's an international treasure of learning, enthusiasm, and discovery.