3 ms·

API stability is a problem. An engineering culture that breaks APIs is bullshit. Taking 48+ hours to fix show-stopper platform errors is bullshit. Their 'innov

API stability is a problem. An engineering culture that breaks APIs is bullshit. Taking 48+ hours to fix show-stopper platform errors is bullshit. Their 'innovative approach' is not working and the proof is in the pudding. They have not reached 500 million users solely on the success of this engineering approach, and I would vehemently argue they have reached 500 million users in spite of it. The price will become too high to pay, if the future they envision involves third party developers at all. 500 million users is a hell of a lot of momentum, but it won't carry them as far as they want to go.

dasil003 16y ago
Of course it's a problem. It's a terribly onerous problem for developers. But the thing is that they don't have any problem getting developers to deal with it because there's really no alternative. And businesses hiring web developers are demanding Facebook integration as much as ever. Sure, if they fixed the problems then developers might be more enthusiastic, but you haven't shown that that will improve Facebook's bottom line. They have no shortage of apps, users, or growth, so the onus is on you to support your argument. Saying that you think they have reached 500 million users inspite of their engineering approach is far from a common-sense argument. It's clear that Facebook ran technical circles around MySpace. And it's clear that they have launched new features at a breakneck pace throughout their history that have fueled growth at every turn. I personally will avoid working with Facebook as much as I can, but will that hurt them? Not in the current business climate.