I blogged earlier about hardware vendors like Dell, EMC, and HP looking to strategically become the “Walmart” of the Data Center.

While this was all happening on the “corporate level”, there was similar movement in the parallel universe on the “consumer level”.

Google, Apple and Amazon are moving discreetly and rapidly to captivate the consumer market. You may not have noticed, but there’s seems to be a lot of interesting products in the past few years that have really become pillars of our daily lives.

From Google Docs to Google Voice to watching videos on Amazon Prime… these are just a few examples of how a search engine company has now become our partner in life and how an online bookstore has now become our entertainment outlet and shopping superstore.

So what’s this all about? It is all about owning the “Ecosystem”. The “Walmart” philosophy of the “one-stop” shop goes beyond just making it convenient for us, the consumer, but it is also about making us dependent on them, the company… the “Ecosystem”.

The more ecosystem a company can own, the more likely we will be stuck patronizing them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it puts the squeeze on the smaller, more specialized segments of markets.

While creating competition on a macro-level, this also creates unintended consequences such as steamrolling industries in the process.

While I am a big fan of Apple and their endless barrage of tantalizing toys and entertainment I can’t just lock myself into just one company. I love the fact that I can just turn on my ASUS droid tablet and enjoy the same benefits as Apple, but at the same time see how each product and service is presented and executed uniquely.

Owning “the Ecosystem” is a wonderful concept but let’s not forget to help out the “little guys”. The small businesses, the boutique shops and niche players.

I remember going to a local tool rental shop to rent a compactor for my paving job in my backyard. I could have went to Home Depot and rented it there, but I chose to support my local business. They were so appreciative for my business they gave me the attention I could not have received from a hardware superstore.

Let’s support our local and small businesses as this is a great way to keep everyone honest, including the “Big Boys”. When we all do this we can all focus on the more important things in life, our friends and families.