now it seems more and more like just the big “brands” silo’s are making it work for them and well maybe if you are a super hacker you could do your own

This is precisely where the DiSo Project fits in. Whereas most of the parties at the table are large corporations, we’re a bit unique in that we represent the idea of participating in the social web as a first class citizen, but running everything entirely from your own domain. And I can tell you that everyone I’ve spoken with completely understands and agrees with this notion — that you shouldn’t have to participate from one of the big silos.

While development on DiSo is slower than we’d like, we are making headway on a number of WordPress plugins, and should even see some of this technology (specifically OAuth) make its way into WordPress core in the future. Six Apart is also making tremendous strides in making a number of these technologies available in MovableType.

So I wouldn’t worry too terribly much about the little guy getting locked out.