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FYI: Netlify has a trademark on JAMSTACK and strictly controls it. They have a very weak profitability model and over 120 million dollars of early Series VC ra

FYI: Netlify has a trademark on JAMSTACK and strictly controls it. They have a very weak profitability model and over 120 million dollars of early Series VC raises. Netlify is a company working hard to get lots of people locked into their companies ecosystem. This is a very bad thing for the open web.

armonraphiel 6y ago
They host static web pages. I’m not exactly seeing the angle on how this is a bad thing.
schwartzworld 6y ago
A lot of what is great about netlify and the jamstack is that it doesn't lock you in. Migrating away from WordPress means a new codebase. Migrating away from netlify just means putting my files somewhere else.
gherkinnn 6y ago
Netlify is semi-anonymously creating hype and then offering what they think is the best solution to the problem they’ve created. The principles behind JAM are platform-agnostic though. As I see it, Netlify is just dressing serverless in a new hat.
CarelessExpert 6y ago
How can you "lock" someone into an ecosystem that's literally just a bunch of open standards and an architectural pattern? Heck, my own Jekyll-based static blog is technically a "JAMstack" website and I've never had any interactions with Netlify. What are you implying?
- shiftpgdn 6y ago
  Then you don't have a JAMSTACK website. You have a static + serverless architecture. Netlify is heavily promoting "JAMSTACK" as the next hot thing because only they are allowed to provide a "JAMSTACK" platform.
  - ValentineC 6y ago
    If enough people use it, and if they don't defend their trademark enough, it'll probably get genericized: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark
  - CarelessExpert 6y ago
    So you claim is they're trying to create "lock-in". That has a specific meaning whereby they prevent customers from leaving, somehow, but forcing everyone onto their platform. As far as I can tell, the basis for this claim is that somehow the "jamstack" label is so valuable that people will be "forced" to work with Netlify so they can enjoy the privilege of using that trademarked term, but you'll forgive me if I find that to be a pretty weak basis upon which to levy such a strong claim. Ultimately, again, this is just an architectural pattern and a bunch of open standards. Netlify is absolutely guilty of hyping the holy heck out of this thing as though it's the silver bullet that'll solve all of the world's problems. And sure, maybe they're trying to build a brand around it. But I fail to see how any of this is so nefarious as to qualify as attempted "lock-in".
duhi88 6y ago
Why? If they drop their free tier or do something evil, I'll just start pushing my static files elsewhere. Why is that a bad thing? Even their serverless functions api and DB can be connected to any serverless provider.
type0 6y ago
Trademark usually is the least of worries, they opensource a bunch of their efforts, I personally contributed to some of their projects as do many others. Of course portability of services isn't completely stellar with Netlify. But I admit that the hype will eventually die up and someone else would be able to trademark their model of simple stupid website publishing, hey I guess I should do just that. SSWP here we go!
deleted 6y ago
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armonraphiel 6y ago

They host static web pages. I’m not exactly seeing the angle on how this is a bad thing.

schwartzworld 6y ago

A lot of what is great about netlify and the jamstack is that it doesn't lock you in. Migrating away from WordPress means a new codebase. Migrating away from netlify just means putting my files somewhere else.

gherkinnn 6y ago

Netlify is semi-anonymously creating hype and then offering what they think is the best solution to the problem they’ve created. The principles behind JAM are platform-agnostic though. As I see it, Netlify is just dressing serverless in a new hat.

CarelessExpert 6y ago

How can you "lock" someone into an ecosystem that's literally just a bunch of open standards and an architectural pattern? Heck, my own Jekyll-based static blog is technically a "JAMstack" website and I've never had any interactions with Netlify. What are you implying?

shiftpgdn 6y ago
Then you don't have a JAMSTACK website. You have a static + serverless architecture. Netlify is heavily promoting "JAMSTACK" as the next hot thing because only they are allowed to provide a "JAMSTACK" platform.
- ValentineC 6y ago
  If enough people use it, and if they don't defend their trademark enough, it'll probably get genericized: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark
- CarelessExpert 6y ago
  So you claim is they're trying to create "lock-in". That has a specific meaning whereby they prevent customers from leaving, somehow, but forcing everyone onto their platform. As far as I can tell, the basis for this claim is that somehow the "jamstack" label is so valuable that people will be "forced" to work with Netlify so they can enjoy the privilege of using that trademarked term, but you'll forgive me if I find that to be a pretty weak basis upon which to levy such a strong claim. Ultimately, again, this is just an architectural pattern and a bunch of open standards. Netlify is absolutely guilty of hyping the holy heck out of this thing as though it's the silver bullet that'll solve all of the world's problems. And sure, maybe they're trying to build a brand around it. But I fail to see how any of this is so nefarious as to qualify as attempted "lock-in".

duhi88 6y ago

Why? If they drop their free tier or do something evil, I'll just start pushing my static files elsewhere. Why is that a bad thing? Even their serverless functions api and DB can be connected to any serverless provider.

type0 6y ago

Trademark usually is the least of worries, they opensource a bunch of their efforts, I personally contributed to some of their projects as do many others. Of course portability of services isn't completely stellar with Netlify. But I admit that the hype will eventually die up and someone else would be able to trademark their model of simple stupid website publishing, hey I guess I should do just that. SSWP here we go!

deleted 6y ago

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