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Please take note: never build a business which depends majorly on someone's else platform be that free or paid.

AznHisoka 9y ago
Yes, and if Buffer (Twitter), SimilarWeb (Chrome extensions, yes I know you buy extensions, i’m on to you!!), AppAnnie (App Store), Hootsuite (fb/twitter) and Heroku (aws) all listened to you, their founders wouldn’t have been rich. Not everything is black and white.
siquick 9y ago
I never understood how this logic became so trendy. - All software above the OS layer is built on someone else's platform. - All websites unless hosted on your own servers are built on someone elses platform, most likely using libraries built by someone else, on someone elses platform. - All websites run in a browser which you don't own.
- brianwawok 9y ago
  This logic is worse than strawman. You build a business that 100% depends on facebook. Facebook is a commercial company. At any point they can shut it down, and you are back to 0. Bad. You build a website that depends on "a browser". There are at least 4 popular browsers desktop browsers, with several variations on mobile and more exotic browsers. All 4 are run by different companies. For most websites you would still function if even 3 of the 4 major browsers were shut down. Furthermore, desktop software is downloaded and cannot just vanish (let's ignore app store and that kind of magic, as not all browsers come in like that). So I think you just proved the point on writing a "website" is a safer bet then writing a "tool for facebook"
- rokhayakebe 9y ago
  With FB you have a single point of failure: "Hey Jerry block api_key." That is one field updated in one table. For Firefox to block your website/web app they may have to force an update on the millions of browsers out there, which is not equally easy. If your hosting company shuts you down, you move to another (hopefully you had backups). If Google stops supporting Angular maybe you move to React. If Apple removes you from the appstore and people really want your app, maybe they may find ways to download. If Instagram says "no more access to our users from your app," well your app just became useless if it depended solely on Insta.

Yes, and if Buffer (Twitter), SimilarWeb (Chrome extensions, yes I know you buy extensions, i’m on to you!!), AppAnnie (App Store), Hootsuite (fb/twitter) and Heroku (aws) all listened to you, their founders wouldn’t have been rich. Not everything is black and white.

siquick 9y ago

I never understood how this logic became so trendy. - All software above the OS layer is built on someone else's platform. - All websites unless hosted on your own servers are built on someone elses platform, most likely using libraries built by someone else, on someone elses platform. - All websites run in a browser which you don't own.

brianwawok 9y ago
This logic is worse than strawman. You build a business that 100% depends on facebook. Facebook is a commercial company. At any point they can shut it down, and you are back to 0. Bad. You build a website that depends on "a browser". There are at least 4 popular browsers desktop browsers, with several variations on mobile and more exotic browsers. All 4 are run by different companies. For most websites you would still function if even 3 of the 4 major browsers were shut down. Furthermore, desktop software is downloaded and cannot just vanish (let's ignore app store and that kind of magic, as not all browsers come in like that). So I think you just proved the point on writing a "website" is a safer bet then writing a "tool for facebook"
rokhayakebe 9y ago
With FB you have a single point of failure: "Hey Jerry block api_key." That is one field updated in one table. For Firefox to block your website/web app they may have to force an update on the millions of browsers out there, which is not equally easy. If your hosting company shuts you down, you move to another (hopefully you had backups). If Google stops supporting Angular maybe you move to React. If Apple removes you from the appstore and people really want your app, maybe they may find ways to download. If Instagram says "no more access to our users from your app," well your app just became useless if it depended solely on Insta.