MCP is the coming of Web 2.0 2.0

Anil Dash argues that MCP matters because it is open, adopted quickly, and usable across platforms, not because the specification is especially strong. He treats that spread as a return to the Web 2.0 model of open APIs, interoperable tools, and users and developers having more control.

Reading notes

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• MCP was designed by Anthropic to let LLMs ask apps for information and interact with different systems.
• OpenAI supporting the same protocol in ChatGPT helped make it a standard.
• Dash describes the spec as vague, but says it works and is open.
• He connects MCP to the old Web 2.0 idea of open data, open protocols, and open APIs.
• He recalls working with teams that tried to keep products interoperable across competitors.
• He says big platforms later shut off APIs and helped kill that era of openness.
• He sees MCP as a chance for AI popularity to make other platforms programmable again.
• He values platforms that adopt a protocol faithfully instead of trying to embrace, extend, and extinguish it.
• He argues that supporting the standard thing is often better than trying to improve it.
• He points to HTML and the web as examples built on imperfect specs that still worked.
• He says developers and users should demand conformance and more transparency from platforms using open standards like MCP.
• He warns that MCP still leaves security and data-handling questions opaque.
• He ends by saying MCP may inspire younger developers to push the web back toward openness and programmability.