上世纪80年代初，微软（Microsoft）发布MSDOS操作系统的时候不过是华盛顿州雷德蒙德的一家创业公司。但该公司从一开始就坚信其新产品非比寻常，MSDOS的设计允许其轻易兼容于不同的硬件，降低了潜在用户进入的成本门槛。而且微软鼓励参与者根据特定环境调整MSDOS，这意味着随着时间流逝，这个系统可以不断得到改进。

    不过，与其他任何优秀平台一样，MSDOS的价值在于其网络效应。尽管这个系统发布之初的用户基础不是很庞大，但微软很快就与IBM和英特尔（Intel）等科技巨子谈妥了合作关系，刺激了增长预期，推动更多先行者成为其用户。通过这种方式，这个平台迅速获得了临界质量，实现了网络效应。这种状态非常神奇，它意味着随着加入的成员日益增加，网络之于每个参与者的价值也随之提高。而随着这个网络不断升值，它就会进一步吸引更多的人参与进来。间接成本往往会拖累、甚至限制传统商业网络的发展，但由于微软依赖不断增长的经济效益来吸引、招揽参与者，从而显著降低了这种间接成本。

    或许，比微软的网络规模本身更重要的是，个体与MSDOS平台互动并对其进行调整的方式。从某些方面来看，通用平台使参与者置身于公平的竞争环境之上，使他们有动力去以改善性能的方式“保护自己的地盘”。随着参与者的数量持续增加，竞争压力随之加剧，赢得成功的回报也不断增长，永远维持围绕标准平台不断创新的良性循环。

    在许多情况下，不同参与者建立了协作，共同来改善网络，而另一些参与者则选择孤军奋战。无需微软介入调停，参与者之间的这些互动自发演变成了复杂的合作网络，互动不仅存在于个体与个体之间，还存在于不同参与者组成的集团之间。各种实验因此如雨后春笋般地涌现，许多前途广阔的点子很快被其他参与者采纳，而失败之举也成了众人借鉴的教材。如此一来，每个参与者以及作为一个整体的生态系统学习速度都比自己单独摸索要快得多。

    微软首个平台的发布似乎已经是远古时代的事了，但它已然彰显了我们所谓的“网络生态系统”的巨大潜力。我们在自然界发现的网络足以使人心生敬畏，而且无从解释。比如，一个结构精密的蜘蛛网可从其中心开始，不断蔓延到似乎不可思议的距离。就算风狂雨骤，临近的树叶飘零、枝条坠地，这张网依然安然无恙。因此我们不难理解，为什么很多领域都借用了网络这个兼具力量与精妙的象征符号（没错，万维网也是其中一例）。

    我们再来研究一下生态系统，也就是即商业参与者通过某种形式的合作组成的集群，我们发现这个了无新意的词汇完美地凸显了MSDOS和其他网络的微妙之处。这些生态系统格外有趣的地方在于它的可拓展性——网络拥有调动数十万乃至数百万参与者的潜力。网络的可拓展性不仅表现在人数方面，它们所能支撑的创新也比其他合作型生态系统范围更广。蜘蛛网的边缘往往出现错综复杂的图案，与此相似，特定生态系统的不同区域也会出现独特而令人兴奋的创新。

    Microsoft was still a no-name startup based in Redmond, Wash. when it launched its operating system, MSDOS in the early 1980s. From the beginning, however, the company believed that this was not your average product launch. MSDOS's design allowed it to adapt easily to different hardware, reducing entry costs for potential users. And Microsoft encouraged participants to tailor MSDOS for particular environments, meaning that the product could actually improve over time.

    Like any good platform, however, MSDOS was only as valuable as its network. While it did not have a large user base in its early years, Microsoft (MSFT) soon negotiated relationships with tech giants like IBM (IBM) and Intel (INTC), fueling growth expectations and motivating more early adopters to sign on. In this way, the platform was able to quickly gain critical mass and achieve network effects -- that wonderful position when the value of the network increases for all participants as more members join. This growing value helped to attract even more participants. By relying on growing economic incentives to attract and engage participants, Microsoft significantly reduced the overhead costs that often slow, or even limit, the growth of more conventional business networks.

    Perhaps even more important than its network size was how individuals interacted with and tailored the MSDOS platform. In some respects, the common platform leveled the playing field among participants, creating incentives for them to "protect their turf" by improving their own performance. As the number of participants continued to expand, both competitive pressures as well as the spoils of success increased, perpetuating a cycle of continuous innovation around the standard platform.

    In many cases, different participants teamed up to make the network better, while others chose to work on their own. Without any intervention from Microsoft, these interactions among participants evolved into complex webs of collaboration, where the interactions were not just one-to-one, but among groups of different players. This resulted in an explosion of experimentation. Many of these promising ideas were quickly adopted by other participants, and those that failed served as collective learning material. In this way, each participant, and the ecosystem as a whole, learned much faster than they would have on their own.

    The first release of the Microsoft platform may seem like ancient history, but it illustrates the powerful potential of what we call "web ecosystems." In nature, the webs we discover can inspire awe and defy explanations. A well-constructed cobweb, for instance, can span a seemingly impossible distance from its central point and remain intact even in heavy rains and wind that send neighboring leaves and branches to the ground. It is no wonder, therefore, that this image of strength and subtlety has become an oft-referenced metaphor in so many other domains (yes, we're speaking of the World Wide Web, among others).

    As we researched ecosystems (gatherings of business participants engaged in some form of collaboration), we found that the well-worn term perfectly characterized the nuances of MSDOS and other webs. These ecosystems are particularly interesting because of their scalability -- webs have the potential to mobilize hundreds of thousands, even millions, of participants. More than just scalability in numbers, webs also support a much broader range of innovation than other kinds of collaborative ecosystems. Just as intricate patterns emerge on the edges of spiders' webs, so too can distinct and exciting innovations emerge from different pockets of a given ecosystem.

    网络生态系统通常主要依赖于经济刺激来调动参与者的积极性。为了催化与发展网络生态系统，往往需要某种形式的平台，但平台开发者通常极力拓展参与者彼此合作的能力，而不是严格规定他们可以做什么、不可以做什么。

    苹果（Apple）的iOS应用商店和谷歌（Google）的安卓（Android）市场之间的差别可供我们考量。苹果的应用平台虽利润极为丰厚，但并不构成网络生态系统。苹果层级分明的开发规程以及严格的审查程序限制了实验的范围，它还要求平台开发者（也就是苹果）与参与者之间必须存在相当程度的互动。这一点给用户带来的好处是，它提高可靠性，同时还有利于恪守一定的质量标准。

    相比之下，开放程度很高的安卓平台确实称得上网络生态系统。安卓允许开发者更加自由地进行实验、测试潜在的应用。这种松散而灵活的结构意味着系统内存在着相对更多的“业余级别”应用，但也创造了更多合作与创新的机会。

    尽管当今的许多相关范例都来自科技公司，但网络生态系统的应用并不局限于这一领域。想想马尔科姆•麦克莱恩的故事吧，上世纪50年代他只是个卡车司机。当时，他发现从事运输行业的不同群组之间需要建立更紧密的合作。随后，他开发了一种标准的船运集装箱，并允许全行业使用这种标准。通过鼓励港口管理当局、货主和吊车公司投入资金，采用支持该标准的新设备和新方法，麦克莱恩就像微软一样，加快了新标准的普及，并迅速变革了全球船运行业的面貌。

    我们预计，未来这类网络生态系统将变得更加普及。例如，大数据（Big Data）可能成为滋生新兴网络生态系统的沃土。随着某些公司积累的顾客行为资料越来越丰富、详实，这些零散的数据可用于创造一个“平台”，供参与者开发富有创意的产品与服务。利用各个政府机构所采集的数据的政府2.0项目则代表着另一种可能性，同样有可能促成一个潜力巨大的网络生态系统。

    网络生态系统对当今世界很多行业都具有重要的启示意义。首先，我们可以列出医疗保健、金融服务、传媒与能源行业，它们变革的时机已经成熟。不过，我们不应就此止步。您所在的行业是否也已经做好了准备，迎接这种规模的变革？在您所处的领域，网络生态系统应该以什么面貌出现？正如撞上一个华丽而结实的蜘蛛网，最终的结果可能会让您大吃一惊。

    译者：小宇

    Web ecosystems often rely primarily on economic incentives to mobilize its participants. Platforms of some sort are usually involved in catalyzing and growing web ecosystems, but the platform developer often tries to expand participants' abilities to work with each other rather than tightly specifying what they can and cannot do.

    Consider the differences between Apple's (AAPL) iOS app store to Google's (GOOG) Android marketplace. Apple's app platform, though highly profitable, does not constitute a web ecosystem. Apple's structured development regulations and rigorous screening process limit the scope for experimentation and require a significant level of interaction between the platform developer (Apple) and the participants. It offers the benefit of more reliability for its users and an adherence to certain quality standards.

    By contrast, the largely open Android platform does represent a web ecosystem. Android offers more freedom for developers to experiment and test potential applications. The relaxed and flexible structure means that a greater number of "amateur" applications are available, but it also creates many opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

    Though many of today's examples come from technology companies, the applicability of web ecosystems extends further than this domain. Consider the story of Malcolm McLean, a truck driver in the 1950s. After seeing the need for greater coordination between different groups working in shipping, McLean developed a standardized shipping container and made the standards available industry-wide. By encouraging port authorities, shippers, and crane companies to invest in new equipment and practices to support this standard, McLean, much like Microsoft, was able to speed up adoption and quickly reshape the global industry.

    We expect these web ecosystems to become more prevalent in the future. Big Data, for example, may become fertile ground for new web ecosystems. As certain companies accumulate richer and more detailed profiles of customer behavior, these bits of data can be used to create a "platform" that participants can use to develop innovative products and services. Government 2.0 projects, which make available data accumulated by various government agencies, represent another promising web ecosystem.

    Web ecosystems have meaningful implications for many industries today. For starters, we would single out health care, financial services, media, and the energy industries ripe for disruption. But let's not stop there. Is your industry ripe for change at this scale? What would a web ecosystem need to look like in your field? Like stumbling across an ornate and resilient spider web, the results might surprise you.