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Stevey's Google Platforms Rant
- rektide 6y ago> Google+ is a knee-jerk reaction, a study in short-term thinking, predicated on the incorrect notion that Facebook is successful because they built a great product. But that's not why they are successful. Facebook is successful because they built an entire constellation of products by allowing other people to do the work. Amusingly, we are reading this post in a gist, because G+, where this rant was posted, no longer exists. And I think Steve was absolutely on to something in his assessment: G+ never developed an even remotely useful API of any sort, never became anything more than a narrow little Google property. Facebook &c thrived, originally, because they hosted so many different applications and data graphs. Those days are somewhat past, and Facebook too has gone from a platform to more of an application. But i still think anyone who wants to compete needs to do so by inviting others to remix & create atop the platform, which is something that seems so rare & un-done these days. Different topic, but I cited Steve's other well known Magic Bus rant[1] about software being political two weeks ago, talking about Software is a Losers Game[2]. In many ways this rant feels like the Winners vs Losers game discussion: are you just trying to not lose with your product? To make a good application? Or are you trying to open the doors, build a culture of building many things? Do you want to keep finding new wins, or are you just going to build it then defend the castle? The link isn't clear but I think Google Platforms rant & Software is a Losers Game have more shared ground than would at first be apparent. [1] https://gist.github.com/cornchz/3313150 https://gist.github.com/cornchz/3313150 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26661164 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26661164