As the web matures, I suspect better inter-service compatibility is necessary, and this potentially sets the stage for that. I'm optimistic for the future this lays the groundwork for, but am cautious with regards to this project specifically, simply due to the names involved; hopefully more FOSS leaders will become involved, or this version will become superseded by a later framework, as I do not trust the current members to design with sufficient privacy safeguards.

On a side note, this will likely continue the trend of increasing the barrier to entry for more of the internet, hurting startups. Though that's dependant on how the framework is designed.

I feel like this will actually lower the barrier to entry. Currently there's no easy way to migrate from the big 4 websites to other providers. If you were a new startup competitor, having to only implement one import format seems to be a good thing

That's a really good point! I had been thinking of it in terms of something else a new service is expected to support before going live, but if they do support it it definitely should make it easier to get new users. I'd still be wary of it being overly complex and bloated, but if not it may be a boon in disguise.

How might this increase the barrier of entry? I would believe that if a transfer protocol was standardized, the startups could focus on innovating rather than convincing people to give up on software they've grown dependent on.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I could see it being something that new services are essentially required to support - if you can easily transfer your data between almost all services, the cost of using one that doesn't support the framework is higher, relatively speaking. However, I hadn't really considered how much easier it may potentially make it to move to a new service, so it may well end up doing the reverse, lowering the barrier.

I'm not sure about the rest of HN but I'm definitely excited!