3 ms·

Because it is in their long term interest - seeing the way Apple and Google treat developers has stopped me, at the very least, from putting time into learning

Because it is in their long term interest - seeing the way Apple and Google treat developers has stopped me, at the very least, from putting time into learning their ecosystems and choosing it for a side project. It may be true that there are plenty of people who will replace me, but the aggregate effect can eventually hurt their marketplaces.

FussyZeus 7y ago
Your hypothesis comes up against the App Store breaking records each year and making tons of money for those who participate. It's the most profitable mobile store by a huge margin, and it's not as if these policies are new, this has been more or less the environment it's operated in since it opened.
- logfromblammo 7y ago
  Ethics and economics rarely agree. Slavery was also profitable for slave-owners. Fascism was also profitable for the willing corporate partners of the state. The argumentam ad pecuniam is valid only for the accountants, not for policy-makers.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Really slavery? What next comparing developing for a mobile platform to Nazism?
    - logfromblammo 7y ago
      Literally my next sentence after the slavery one. Finding counterexamples to the "profitable == okay" argument is really, really easy.
- marcus_holmes 7y ago
  Not all those who participate. The vast (overwhelming) majority of app developers don't make a dime from it. A tiny, tiny minority make some side cash from it. A vanishingly small set of maybe a few hundred people maybe earn enough from it to make a living doing it (not developing apps for other people, but developing their own app products).
scarface74 7y ago
Do you really think they care if Joe Random doesn’t develop for their platform? They care about the big companies like Microsoft, Adobe, etc developing for it. Big companies don’t take a moral stand when it comes to what platform to target. It’s all about where the money is. Companies don’t make decisions for petty reasons. There is a reason that Google, Amazon and Microsoft develop for iOS even while they compete against Apple.

FussyZeus 7y ago

Your hypothesis comes up against the App Store breaking records each year and making tons of money for those who participate. It's the most profitable mobile store by a huge margin, and it's not as if these policies are new, this has been more or less the environment it's operated in since it opened.

logfromblammo 7y ago
Ethics and economics rarely agree. Slavery was also profitable for slave-owners. Fascism was also profitable for the willing corporate partners of the state. The argumentam ad pecuniam is valid only for the accountants, not for policy-makers.
- scarface74 7y ago
  Really slavery? What next comparing developing for a mobile platform to Nazism?
  - logfromblammo 7y ago
    Literally my next sentence after the slavery one. Finding counterexamples to the "profitable == okay" argument is really, really easy.
marcus_holmes 7y ago
Not all those who participate. The vast (overwhelming) majority of app developers don't make a dime from it. A tiny, tiny minority make some side cash from it. A vanishingly small set of maybe a few hundred people maybe earn enough from it to make a living doing it (not developing apps for other people, but developing their own app products).

scarface74 7y ago

Do you really think they care if Joe Random doesn’t develop for their platform? They care about the big companies like Microsoft, Adobe, etc developing for it. Big companies don’t take a moral stand when it comes to what platform to target. It’s all about where the money is. Companies don’t make decisions for petty reasons. There is a reason that Google, Amazon and Microsoft develop for iOS even while they compete against Apple.