WordPress can help retain the Open Web. I was disheartened to hear Dries say basically we can’t stop the open web from closing. I don’t disagree with him about the increasing dominance of a few key players in our daily lives online, but I think the antidote to that is the continued presence of many smaller players, enabled by technologies like WordPress. The IndieWebCamp movement, BarCamp, and WordCamp all suggest to me a strong and vibrant future for the truly open web. WordPress’ core mission, to democratize publishing, can and should continue to be a strong antidote to the evolving closed, monolithic, corporate web.