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Of all Facebook tech, this is the least "Facebook" of them all. ReasonML is a thin layer on top of OCaml, a language that's been around for decades. If Facebook

Of all Facebook tech, this is the least "Facebook" of them all. ReasonML is a thin layer on top of OCaml, a language that's been around for decades. If Facebook one day abandons Reason, it would their loss more than anyone else's.

JoshMnem 8y ago
That doesn't really address the issue that the use of Facebook's software supports Facebook. The industry needs to pay more attention to the long-term results of its choices and actions.
- simplify 8y ago
  I'm not sure what the connection is here. Is it because Facebook sponsored development of Reason? Should we consider not using anything that Facebook touches? What if Facebook pays a developer to work on another popular library like Vue.js? Should we consider stop using Vue?
  - jazoom 8y ago
    Maybe we can think of this as Facebook's payment to us for using our data.
  - JoshMnem 8y ago
    As far as I know, they aren't a sponsor of the project -- they own the project (as opposed to something like Cassandra). Companies release these libraries because they benefit the companies. The successes of projects like React help Facebook. I think that people who believe that Facebook is an unethical company should consider alternative technologies on new projects whenever possible.
    - simplify 8y ago
      > Companies release these libraries because they benefit the companies. The successes of projects like React help Facebook. The success of projects like Haskell and OCaml help Facebook too. Should we consider not using those technologies? It seems the only difference you can point out is that Facebook "owns" React. But this doesn't make any practical difference when it comes to open source. It's like public transportation. If Facebook sponsors a high-speed railway that benefits both them and two cities, so what? That's great for everyone. If you were talking about a paid SaaS run by Facebook, then I would agree with you. That would be more analogous to supporting Uber than supporting public transportation.
      - JoshMnem 8y ago
        Facebook's use of software is completely different than a product of Facebook that targets programmers. Companies release open-source libraries because they benefit the companies.

JoshMnem 8y ago

That doesn't really address the issue that the use of Facebook's software supports Facebook. The industry needs to pay more attention to the long-term results of its choices and actions.

simplify 8y ago
I'm not sure what the connection is here. Is it because Facebook sponsored development of Reason? Should we consider not using anything that Facebook touches? What if Facebook pays a developer to work on another popular library like Vue.js? Should we consider stop using Vue?
- jazoom 8y ago
  Maybe we can think of this as Facebook's payment to us for using our data.
- JoshMnem 8y ago
  As far as I know, they aren't a sponsor of the project -- they own the project (as opposed to something like Cassandra). Companies release these libraries because they benefit the companies. The successes of projects like React help Facebook. I think that people who believe that Facebook is an unethical company should consider alternative technologies on new projects whenever possible.
  - simplify 8y ago
    > Companies release these libraries because they benefit the companies. The successes of projects like React help Facebook. The success of projects like Haskell and OCaml help Facebook too. Should we consider not using those technologies? It seems the only difference you can point out is that Facebook "owns" React. But this doesn't make any practical difference when it comes to open source. It's like public transportation. If Facebook sponsors a high-speed railway that benefits both them and two cities, so what? That's great for everyone. If you were talking about a paid SaaS run by Facebook, then I would agree with you. That would be more analogous to supporting Uber than supporting public transportation.
    - JoshMnem 8y ago
      Facebook's use of software is completely different than a product of Facebook that targets programmers. Companies release open-source libraries because they benefit the companies.