Hey, it’s Marek.
In 1981, IBM did something that looked insane: they published the complete specs for the IBM PC and basically invited the world to copy them. Four years later, a Taiwanese clone of that machine ended up in communist Poland, where it hooked a preschool kid on computers for life. That kid was me. That Taiwanese company? It became Acer, one of the world’s largest PC makers.
On December 9th, 2024, the AI industry just pulled the same move. And most people missed it.
This episode is about why that matters for anyone who serves customers through digital channels.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Poland, 1985: My first encounter with a PC clone3:01 - IBM’s crazy decision in August 19814:05 - The pattern: HTTP, TCP/IP, USB, Android6:03 - Enter Model Context Protocol (MCP)09:23 - Why businesses need an “agent channel”10:38 - Grasshopper Bank & Figma examples11:20 - The problem: Anthropic owned it11:50 - December 9th: Linux Foundation takes over14:14 - Why this might create new markets14:23 - From clone maker to Acer
KEY INSIGHTRight now it’s unthinkable for a retailer not to have a website. In eighteen months, it might be unthinkable not to have an MCP server. If your systems can’t talk to AI agents, you won’t exist in their world.
READ THE FULL NEWSLETTERhttps://marekkowal.substack.com/p/1981-again
WHAT IS MCP?Model Context Protocol is to AI agents what HTTP is to web browsers - a standard way to access resources. Anthropic created it, thousands implemented it, and now the Linux Foundation governs it alongside Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Amazon.
THE B2A2C FUTUREBusiness-to-Agent-to-Consumer. Agents will mediate customer relationships, comparing your offerings against competitors and negotiating on behalf of users.
Infrastructure moments don’t wait. This might be one of them.
Stay curious!
