It’s a bit VHS vs Betamax, but commercial interests are also going to skew towards AT.
I really don’t see why people are funding a second Protocol. ActivityPub is perfectly fine and be expanded for those few cases it’s not enough. I’m glad we at least have a bridge with @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy but that’s an opt in thing that users on both sides need to follow. It just kind of sucks that Bluesky and AT Protocol is getting more attention than the Fediverse and ActivityPub knowing we’ve proven that we can create more than just one platform with our protocol.
Seems like it’s for velocity and monetization. ActivityPub is already a published standard) and going to be more resistant to features that involve monetization given its origins. BlueSky could just start from scratch with AT and build what they in wanted and could iterate through updates without as much or any debate. That’s just my impression though, I’m not an expert into the state of either proto.
I agree that the bridge has too much friction to truly reach mass adoption. I’d be really happy if the two protocols could just interoperate transparently.