> If this sounds all conspiracy theory, then good for you - you’ve just earned the Junior Meta Sceptic Badge.
At least the author seems to be aware that the article isn't anything more than a conspiracy theory. What is not clear, is why they then published it.
There are plenty of things to complain about with AMP. But, it also does address some very real problems - slow, inneficient, hard ti use web pages. What I'd love to hear about is a different approach to address these issues - and not something handwavy about how it could be done in a weekend. Actual code.
You don’t need a different approach. It’s absolutely possible to build fast websites today without AMP - it’s just a collection of good practices and strict limits.
In fact, you can even use AMP itself without any of the Google garden parts.
So, your alternative is to do nothing. That's a valid alternative.
My experience, however, is that the web is clogged up with slow, painful to use web pages. Despite AMP's short comings, I do know that when I click on an AMP page, it's going to load quickly and behave consistently. IMO, those are pretty big benefits it would be good to bring to a larger portion of the web, regardless of it's via AMP or some other mechanism.
Google has already made speed a stronger part of their ranking system, and they could do more; when it comes to performance, they can prioritize fast and bloat-free websites regardless of AMP - I see it being more about controlling the platform, and the advertising revenue that comes with it than an improvement in tech.
Yet we observed a decade of increasing bloat with no sign of it changing. Ultimately, content producers want scripts for analytics. They have an incentive to stick more crap on the page. They have very little incentive to reduce bloat.
Therefore the status quo will not lead to lean sites.
At least the author seems to be aware that the article isn't anything more than a conspiracy theory. What is not clear, is why they then published it.
There are plenty of things to complain about with AMP. But, it also does address some very real problems - slow, inneficient, hard ti use web pages. What I'd love to hear about is a different approach to address these issues - and not something handwavy about how it could be done in a weekend. Actual code.